General Notes

General Notes

This is the original Ubuntuguide. You are free to copy this guide but not to sell it or any derivative of it. Copyright of the names Ubuntuguide and Ubuntu Guide reside solely with this site. This Ubuntu help guide is neither sold nor distributed in any other medium. Beware of copies that are for sale or are similarly named; they are neither endorsed nor sanctioned by this guide. Ubuntuguide is not associated with Canonical Ltd nor with any commercial enterprise.

Text inside the grey dotted box like this should be put into the command-line Terminal.

Many changes to the operating system can only be done by a User with Administrative privileges. 'sudo' elevates a User's privileges to the Administrator level temporarily (i.e. when installing programs or making changes to the system). Example:

sudo bash

'gksudo' can be used instead of 'sudo' when opening a Graphical Application through the "Run Command" dialog box or as a menu item. Example:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Many file management tasks can be accomplished with root Administrative privileges by starting the Nautilus file manager in a similar fashion. (Use 'gksudo' if starting Nautilus from a menu item.)

gksudo nautilus

or

sudo nautilus

"man" command can be used to find help manual for a command. For example, "man sudo" will display the manual page for the "sudo" command:

man sudo

While "apt-get" and "aptitude" are fast ways of installing programs/packages, you can also use the Synaptic Package Manager, a GUI method for installing programs/packages. Most (but not all) programs/packages available with apt-get install will also be available from the Synaptic Package Manager. In this guide, when you see

sudo apt-get install package

you can search for package in Synaptic and install it that way.

Many instructions use the text editor "nano" (which is universally available in Linux). However, it is often easier to use the text editor "gedit" in Ubuntu instead.

"Menu" refers to the menu bar at the top (or bottom) of the desktop, akin to the Start menu in Microsoft Windows or the Menu bar of the Apple Macintosh.

If you are using the 64-bit version, replace any "i386" with "amd64"

Other versions

How to find out which version of Ubuntu you're using

Open the command terminal and type:

lsb_release -a

How to find out which kernel you are using

uname -a

Newer Versions of Ubuntu

Ubuntu has a six month release cycle, with releases in April and October.

Other Resources

Ubuntu Forums has a large community for online solutions and specific help.

Ubuntu Resources

Unity Desktop

Unity is the default desktop environment used in Ubuntu. It is compatible with the GTK platform used by Gnome. It was designed to be used for netbooks, but is developed by Canonical to be useful on all types of devices.

Ubuntu Screenshots and Screencasts

New Applications Resources

GetDeb - Features the latest versions of software available from the official repositories as well as software not available in the official repositories. Available in easy-to-install .deb files (see Apt and Package Basics).

Other *buntu guides and help manuals

Lubuntu -- Lubuntu can run with as little as 256 MB RAM. It is better for older machines with limited resources.

Edubuntu -- Edubuntu is a collection of software bundles optimized for use in educational environments. LTSP (thin client terminal server support) and many networking tools are bundled. A version for use with KDE (Kubuntu) is available.

Installing Ubuntu

Warning: During installation, there is an advanced option (Ready to install -> Advanced) to install the GRUB2 bootloader into the same partition into which the (K)Ubuntu OS is installed but not to change the MBR (Master Boot Record). Pay careful attention during this step if your system uses a boot partition, uses multiple OS (more than 2), or chainloads bootloaders. For systems with such a boot partition, it is best not to overwrite the MBR.

Hardware requirements

Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot runs well with as little as 384 Mb RAM. (The GUI installer requires a minimum of 256 Mb RAM, while the alternative text-based installer can run using only 192 Mb RAM.) Netbooks can run Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot, which has been optimised for that platform.

The installation takes between 3-4 Gb hard drive space, and 8 - 10 Gb will be needed to run comfortably. (However, at least 25-30 Gb will likely be needed for routine usage.)

If you have an older computer with less memory than this, consider Lubuntu (if 160 Mb RAM or greater), PuppyLinux (if 256 Mb or greater), or DSL (if minimal RAM, limited hard drive space, running from a USBdrive, or running from within another OS).

The Alternate CD version also allows the use of the same fast text-based installer used in the Server version (requiring less RAM), and there are more installation options than on the Desktop CD ("Regular Download").

Install a classic Gnome-appearing User Interface

A Gnome 3 interface gnome-shell can be installed, and a choice (from the Login Manager) of running in Unity or Gnome 3 will then be available:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

A user interface resembling the classic Gnome 2 interface (used in Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and earlier versions) can be installed. (This installs the gnome-shell modules as well.) A choice of running Unity or Gnome as the desktop environment will then be available from the Login Manager.

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

A complete Ubuntu Gnome Shell Remix OS (an unofficial Ubuntu derivative) is also available from which the Unity desktop environment has been removed entirely, and is more similar to a Debian distribution with a Gnome desktop.

Of course, if you would like to use Ubuntu with the popular and powerful KDE desktop, use Kubuntu.

Dual-Booting Windows and Ubuntu

A user may experience problems dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows. In general, a Windows OS should be installed first, because its bootloader is very particular. A default Windows installation usually occupies the entire hard drive, so the main Windows partition needs to be shrunk, creating free space for the Ubuntu partitions. (You should clean up unnecessary files and defragment the drive before resizing.) See changing the Windows partition size.

After shrinking a Windows partition, you should reboot once into Windows prior to installing Ubuntu or further manipulating the partitions. This allows the Windows system to automatically rescan the newly-resized partition (using chkdsk in XP or other utilities in more recent versions of Windows) and write changes to its own bootup files. (If you forget to do this, you may later have to repair the Windows partition bootup files manually using the Windows Recovery Console.)

Newer installations of Windows use two primary partitions (a small Windows boot partition and a large Windows OS partition). An Ubuntu Linux installation also requires two partitions -- a linux-swap partition and the OS partition. The Linux partitions can either be two primary partitions or can be two logical partitions within an extended partition. Some computer retailers use all four partitions on a hard drive. Unless there are two free partitions available (either primary or logical) in which to install Ubuntu, however, it will appear as if there is no available free space. If only one partition on a hard drive can be made available, it must be used as an extended partition (in which multiple logical partitions can then be created). Partition management can be done using the GParted utility.

If there are only two existing primary partitions on a hard drive (and plenty of free space on it) then there will be no problem installing Ubuntu as the second operating system and it is done automatically from the Ubuntu LiveCD. Allow the Ubuntu LiveCD to install to "largest available free space." Alternatively, if there is an extended partition with plenty of free space within it, the Ubuntu LiveCD will install to this "largest available free space" as well.

The main Windows partition should be at least 20 Gb (recommended 30 Gb for Vista/Windows 7), and a Ubuntu partition at least 10 Gb (recommended 20 Gb). Obviously, if you have plenty of disk space, make the partition for whichever will be your favoured operating system larger. For a recommended partitioning scheme, see this section.

Conversely you can install a retail version of Windows (but not an OEM or recovery version) after Ubuntu by creating a primary NTFS partition using GParted. (You may have to use GPparted from a Live CD/USB). Once the primary NTFS partition is created you can boot your Windows CD/DVD and choose to install Windows to that NTFS partition. When installation is complete, reboot to insure Windows boots properly. Once that is ascertained, use the Ubuntu Live CD/USB to install GRUB back to the MBR. (This is necessary because Windows overwrites the MBR and designates its own bootloader as the master bootloader.) Once GRUB is installed you will be able to boot either OS.

Alternatives include:

Wubi (Windows-based Ubuntu Installer), an officially supported dual-boot installer that allows Ubuntu to be run mounted in a virtual-disk within the Windows environment (which can cause a slight degradation in performance). Because the installation requires an intact functioning Windows system, it is recommended to install Ubuntu in this manner for short-term evaluation purposes only. A permanent Ubuntu installation should be installed in its own partition, with its own filesystem, and should not rely on Windows.

Installing multiple OS on a single computer

Warning: During installation, there is an advanced option (Ready to install -> Advanced) to install the GRUB2 bootloader into the same partition into which the (K)Ubuntu OS is installed but not to change the MBR (Master Boot Record). Pay careful attention during this step if your system uses a boot partition, uses multiple OS (more than 2), or chainloads bootloaders. For systems with such a boot partition, it is best not to overwrite the MBR.

Example, from the Desktop version GUI installer, a point in the installation will be reached:

Summary -> Advanced -> Device for boot loader installation: /dev/sda6

In this example, this setting will cause the GRUB2 bootloader to be installed into /dev/sda6 only (the partition into which the new (K)Ubuntu OS is being installed). The MBR (Master Boot Record) will not be changed. However, if the default setting of /dev/sda is allowed, then GRUB2 will not only be installed into partition dev/sda6 (into which the (K)Ubuntu OS is installed) but also the MBR (MasterBootRecord) will be changed so that the copy of GRUB2 stored there will be designated as the master bootloader for all Operating Systems on the entire computer. This may be undesirable if you wish to use bootloaders other than GRUB2.

Use Startup Manager to change Grub settings

Grub is a bootup utility that controls which OS to load by default and other bootup settings. You can change Grub settings from Startup Manager, a GUI that is able to manage settings for Grub (Grub Legacy), Grub 2, Usplash, and Splashy. Also see the Ubuntu Community help page for Startup Manager usage instructions. Install:

sudo apt-get install startupmanager menu

Run:

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Startup Manager

Note: You can also edit the Grub settings manually from the command-line interface.

Dual-Booting Mac OS X and Ubuntu

Mac OS X has a similar structure to Linux (it is BSD Unix based). Dual-booting Mac OS X and Ubuntu detailed instructions can be found here.

Installing Mac OS X after Ubuntu

If you decide to dual boot with OS X, choose ext2 as your partition type during the Ubuntu installation. (For this the Super Grub Disk CD is a useful utility. You can download the Super Grub .iso image file at forjamari.linex.org and burn the image to a CD-ROM.)

Upgrading from older versions

There are several methods for upgrades from the command-line interface (Konsole) (which can be used for both the desktop and server editions of Kubuntu/Ubuntu).

This is the preferred method:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

You can also use the update-manager (all editions):

sudo apt-get install update-manager
sudo update-manager -d

You can also use:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

(Note: the first two lines simply make sure your current distribution is current before upgrading the entire distribution, and are optional.

Always backup your system. Upgrades do not generally work for me, because I often make customizations to my older installations (to make my hardware work with them) but these customizations are often not required in the newest version. When the system then attempts to migrate my customizations (during an attempted upgrade), it often crashes my new system. (Fortunately, I always back up my important files, and reinstalling them on a fresh OS installation is therefore usually accomplished relatively quickly.) Here are some of the steps I have sometimes needed to take when performing upgrades.

In general, upgrades must be done serially from one version to the next in order.

Reinstalling applications after a fresh installation

If you upgrade your Ubuntu system with a fresh installation, it is possible to mark the packages and services installed on your old system (prior to the upgrade) and save the settings ("markings") into a file. Then install the new version of Ubuntu and allow the system to reinstall packages and services using the settings saved in the "markings" file. For instructions, see this Ubuntu forum thread. In brief:

On the old system:

Synaptic Package Manager -> File -> Save Markings

Save the markings file to an external medium, such as a USB drive.

Complete the backup of your system's other important files (e.g. the /home directory) before the installation of the new system.

Note: Many packages, dependencies, and compatibilities change between version of Ubuntu, so this method does not always work. Automated updates remains the recommended method.

Alternatively you can use this command-line method.

Prior to the clean installation. run:

dpkg --get-selections > ~/my-packages

This creates a my-packages file in the ~ (home) directory which will contain a list of the packages installed on the old system. Copy this file to a safe place (as you will need it after the new installation).

Proceed with the clean installation. Enable the same repositories that were enabled in the old system.

Any packages that you had installed (that are in the new repositories) will now be installed. Excluded will be any manually-installed packages (that are not in the new repositories) and any packages that were compiled from source.

Here are some of the steps I have sometimes needed to take when performing upgrades.

Add Extra Repositories

Software packages and programs are freely available for download at multiple online sites with standardized structures, called repositories. There are repositories officially sanctioned and monitored by the Kubuntu/Ubuntu developer community, while other repositories are independently provided, without official sanction or supervision (and should be used with caution). Additional information is available from the Ubuntu Repository Guide.

Types of Repositories

There are four major package repository types in Ubuntu:

main - Supported by Canonical. This is the major part of the distribution.

restricted - Software not licensed under the GPL (or similar software license), but supported by Canonical.

universe - Software licensed under the GPL (or similar license) and supported by users.

multiverse - Software not licensed under the GPL (or similar license), but supported by users.

There are also these additional types of repositories:

oneiric-updates - Updates to official packages.

oneiric-backports - Current version software from Precise Pangolin (Oneiric+1) that have been backported to Oneiric Ocelot.

oneiric-proposed - Proposed updates & changes (bleeding edge stuff).

Third party repositories

Software developers often maintain their own repositories, from which software packages can be downloaded and installed directly to your computer (if you add the repository to your list). Many of these third party repositories and software packages have never been reviewed by the (K)Ubuntu/Debian community and can present a security risk to your computer. Trojans, backdoors, and other malicious software can be present at any unregulated repository. When using repositories not endorsed by the (K)ubuntu/Debian community, make sure you have utter confidence in that site before enabling the repository and installing a software package from it.

PPA repositories

A Personal Package Archive (PPA) is a special software repository used for experimental source packages still under development. Such software has not been approved by the Debian or Ubuntu developers (but may eventually become an accepted package). Use this software at your own risk just like any other third party repository software.

Edit the repository sources list

This is an optional, labor intensive method. Do this at your own risk. Modify the default Ubuntu sources.list only if you understand what you're doing. Mixing repositories can break your system. For more information see the Ubuntu Command-line Repository guide.

Note: wget - retrieves a file from a network location. --quiet = no output. -O = Output downloaded item to terminal. The | (pipe symbol) is used to capture the output from the previous command (in our case the screen) and use it as an input for the piped command (i.e. apt-key, which adds it to the keyring).

Alternatively (and perhaps more easily), you can use apt-key directly:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys KEY

where KEY is the missing key code printed in apt-get output, e.g. EF4186FE247510BE.

Installing .deb packages

Debian (.deb) packages are the packages that are used in Ubuntu. You can install any .deb package in your system. .deb files can generally be installed from your file manager (Nautilus) merely by clicking on them, since file associations with the default installer is already set in Ubuntu. These instructions are for those who wish to install packages from the command-line terminal (Terminal).

Install a downloaded Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb):

sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb

Remove a Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb):

sudo dpkg -r packagename

Reconfigure/Repair an installed Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb):

sudo dpkg-reconfigure packagename

*Example:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure mpd

Handling (Tar/GZip) and (Tar/Bzip2) archives

(Tar/GZip) archives end in ".tar.gz" and (Tar/Bzip2) archives end in ".tar.bz2". Bzip2 is the newer, more efficient compression method. These files can generally be automatically extracted by merely clicking on them from your file manager (Nautilus), since file associations with the appropriate archival utilities are set by default in Ubuntu. These instructions are for those who wish to use the command line Terminal.

To extract:

tar xvf packagename.tar.gz

Note: tar is an application which can extract files from an archive, decompressing if necessary.

-x means extract.

-v means verbose (list what it is extracting).

-f specifies the file to use.

Decompressing ".gz" files

gunzip file.gz

Decompressing ".bz2" files

bunzip2 file.bz2

Note: You can also decompress a package first by using the command gunzip (for .gz) or bunzip2 (for .bz2), leaving the .tar file. You would then use tar to extract it.

To create a .gz archive:

tar cvfz packagename.tar.gz folder

To create a .bz2 archive:

tar cvfj packagename.tar.bz2 folder

Installing a package from source

Make sure you have all the necessary development tools (i.e. libraries, compilers, headers):

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Note: "uname -r" lists the current kernel you are using

Extract the archive that contains the source files:

tar xvf sourcefilesarchive.tar.gz

Build the package using the package's script (in this case the configure script), compile the package (make), and install the compiled package into your system (make install):

Note: typing ./ before a filename in the current folder allows the Linux shell to try and execute the file as an application even if it is not in the path (the set of folders which it searches when you type a command name). If you get a "permission denied" error, the file is not marked as being executable. To fix this:

sudo chmod +x filename

Example: In the above instructions, configure is the shell script to build the package from source. To be sure the configure script is executable:

sudo chmod +x configure

Create a .deb package from source files

If your build from source is successful, you can make a Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb) for future use:

Install package tools:

sudo apt-get install checkinstall

Rebuild package using "checkinstall":

cd /path/to/extracted/package
./configure
sudo make
sudo checkinstall

Keep the resulting ".deb" file for future use. It can later be installed using:

sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb

Note: These are basic instructions that may not always work. Some packages require additional dependencies and optional parameters to be specified in order to build them successfully. Also see these Ubuntu wiki instructions. More info about .deb package structure can be found here.

Aptitude

Aptitude is a terminal-based package manager that can be used instead of apt-get. Aptitude marks packages that are automatically installed and removes them when no packages depend on them. This makes it easy to remove applications completely.
To use Aptitude, replace apt-get with aptitude in the command line. Example:

Synaptic Package Manager

While "apt-get" and "aptitude" are fast ways of installing programs/packages, you can also use the Synaptic Package Manager (Menu -> System -> Administration -> Synaptic Manager), a GUI method for installing programs/packages. Most (but not all) programs/packages available with apt-get install will also be available from the Synaptic Package Manager. This is the preferred method for most desktop users. In this guide, when you see

sudo apt-get install package

you can simply search for package in Synaptic and install it that way.

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager

Search for the name of the program/package. You can also search for a word in its description.

-> Mark for Installation -> Apply

The selected program(s) will be automatically installed, along with its dependencies.

Ubuntu Software Center (Add/Remove Programs)

Not all packages available from apt-get, aptitude, and Synaptic Package Manager are available in the Ubuntu Software Center. However, it is the easiest interface for new users of Ubuntu and directs them to preferred packages.

Menu -> Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center

Search for the sort of program you want to add. Example: type MP3 to see a list of mp3 software.

Automated Updates

Repair broken packages

If a package installation fails (which can cause a Package Manager to freeze or become locked), or if a package has unsatisfied dependencies causing a similar condition, then run one (or both) of the following commands from the command-line terminal:

sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg --configure -a

Desktop Add-ons

There are many add-on icons, themes, wallpapers, 3-D effects, and other customizations available for the GNOME desktop.

Gnome Eye-Candy Resources

Gnome Look has wallpapers, splash screens, icons, and themes for windows managers (including Metacity and Compiz) and other applications.

Plymouth does not reliably work with nVidia drivers and during bootup a blank screen may result for several seconds.

Metacity

Metacity is the default desktop compositing manager in Gnome. It is lightweight, streamlined and does not have many configurable options, but has multiple themes available at Gnome Look.

Compiz Fusion

Compiz Fusion is available as a separate Windows Manager, to allow advanced desktop effects such as the rotating cube desktop. Many Ubuntu users choose to run Compiz, which is quite fast in Ubuntu. Install:

Fusion Icon

Fusion Icon is a tray icon that allows you to easily switch between window managers, window decorators, and gives you quick access to the Compiz Settings Manager. This allows quick toggling of 3-D desktop effects (that may not be compatible with some applications).

sudo apt-get install fusion-icon

Menu -> Applications -> System Tools -> Compiz Fusion Icon

You can then easily access CompizConfig Settings Manager from the icon.

Rotate the Compiz Cube

Set the CompizConfig Settings Manager to enable the "Desktop Cube" and "Rotate Cube" and "Viewport Switcher" options. Click on the icon for each to customize settings. For example, to change the appearance of the cube, click on the Desktop Cube icon to access its settings. You can set the hotkey buttons for rotating the cube in the "Viewport Switcher" settings. Otherwise, hold down the Ctrl+Alt+Left mouse button and drag the mouse (or touchpad) the direction you want to rotate the cube.

Remember, the cube rotates between desktops. It's not a cube unless you have at least 4 desktops running. You will not get a cube if you are only using 2 desktops (you will get a "plate"). You can still rotate the sides of the plate, of course, but it will not be a cube. (Recent users from the Windows OS may have no experience with the concept of simultaneous desktops, but they are nice once you learn how to use them).

When running Compiz fusion as the Windows Manager, you must change the default number of desktops from within CompizConfig Settings Manger. To enable 4 desktops:

When you start an application, you can assign it to any one of the 4 desktops by right-clicking the upper left corner of the application window and choosing the "To Desktop..." option. Rotating the cube shows the different desktops. You can also go to a desktop using the taskbar icon which shows the 4 desktops.

Emerald

Emerald is the theme engine for Compiz Fusion. Multiple themes are available. (These themes originated from the Beryl project before it merged with Compiz to form Compiz Fusion.)
The Emerald Theme Manager for Compiz Fusion can be installed:

sudo apt-get install emerald

Google Desktop

Google Desktop for Linux was a proprietary suite of Google widgets and applications. It was discontinued in September 2011.

gDesklets

gDesklets are similar to Windows widgets and Google gadgets and provide information such as weather, system resources, and news primarily for the Gnome desktop (i.e. Ubuntu Maverick and older). Install:

sudo apt-get install gdesklets

Dock applications

Avant Window Manager, Cairo Dock, gnome-do and Wbar are dock-like applications for Ubuntu Linux. A dock represents running programs as icons at the bottom of the screen (as is done on the Mac OS X desktop), instead of by toolbar panel segments (as is done in Windows and other Linux window managers). See this brief comparison of dock applications.

Avant Window Navigator

Install and upgrade proprietary nVidia or ATI graphics drivers so that the compositing manager functions properly.

Install AWN:

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator awn-manager

(Note: If you are using Gnome (Ubuntu) and do not already have a compositing manager installed (such as Compiz), Metacity will be installed as part of the installation.)

Enable automatic startup of AWN at bootup:

Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications -> Add...

avant-window-navigator

Select which applets should run from the dock menu by default:

Menu -> Applications -> Accessories -> Avant Window Navigator Manager

You can drag application icons onto the list, then activate or deactivate the applets from the list.

Cairo Dock

Cairo Dock can be used either with a desktop compositing manager (such as Metacity for Gnome, Compiz, or the KDE4 Window Manager) or without one. See the Ubuntu installation instructions for details. It is available from the repositories:

Gnome Do

From the preferences pane of gnome-do select the Docky look and feel to get the dock (rather than the default Quicksilver-like) look and feel.

wbar

wbar is a quick-launch bar (not a dock) that has an appearance similar to Avant Window Manager and Cairo Dock. It is GTK (Gnome) based but can work in all desktop environments. It does not require a compositing manager to be installed and is therefore quicker and more suitable for low-end hardware systems. It is the default in the Google gOS desktop and is available as a .deb package from Google. Download and install (from the command-line Terminal):

Tip: If you want the "wave" effect just increase the -nanim value. I like the icons to just pop up so I don't use it, but with 9 icons 5 there is a nice "wave" effect.

Obviously, you could create a menu item with the command line options (similar to the examples above), or a batch file that can be automatically started at system startup (as a cron event or startup session).

You can also change wbar startup options by editing the configuration file:

wbarconf

Virtualization

Virtualization allows a second operating system (OS), such as Windows or OS X, to be run from within (K)Ubuntu. This requires extra RAM (because both (K)Ubuntu and the virtualized second OS require separate amounts of RAM) and a license for the second OS. If you wish to run a virtualized instance of Windows XP, for instance, you must have a license for Windows XP.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a fast and complete virtualization solution owned and maintained by Sun Microsystems. There is a free and fully open-source edition available under the GNU GPL license.

For usage instructions, see the End-user documentation. For information on installing Virtualbox in Windows so that Ubuntu can then be installed within in a virtual machine running in Windows, see this page.

VMware

VMware is a commercial virtualization platform that currently offers two free products: VMware Player and VMware Server (the latter with a free renewable yearly license). VMware Player can play virtual appliances that have already been created, whereas VMware Server (which has a broader range of features) allows the creation of virtual machines. In general, VMware Server is recommended unless you only need to play an appliance. (Appliances will also run in VMware Server). Users that wish to run servers (or processes) that need to be available to a network from within the virtual machine should use VMServer. If you wish to install a new OS within a virtual machine (other than in an appliance), you will need VMware Server.

Create an Ubuntu Appliance

While any edition of Ubuntu can be installed in a virtual machine, the minimal installation option (F4) of the Ubuntu Server creates a highly-efficient edition (previously known as JeOS) optimised for use within a virtual appliance (which can then be played using VMware Player or other virtual machine client). See this walkthrough.

A virtual appliance for VMware Player (using this JeOS minimal server) can also be built using vmbuilder.

VMware Server

Install pre-requisites:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Download the server source files for your architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) from the VMware Server website and retrieve your license key by email.

Extract the files, give execution privileges to the install script, and run the install script:

VMware Package

VMware Appliances (that include an Ubuntu/Debian OS) can be created using VMware Server and the VMware Package utility. These appliances can then be deployed to users who can play them using VMware Player. Install:

sudo apt-get install vmware-package

Keyboard errors in VMware guest

After installing VMware 6.5, and installing a guest OS, the Function, arrow and Del/End/etc keys do not function. This is a bug with VMware´s code.
Add this line to ~/.vmware/config (create file if necessary) to fix this issue:

Qemu (without KVM)

Xen

Xen is an efficient open-source virtualization ("hypervisor") platform (which includes a merge with QEMU). It is the basis for the Amazon EC2 Cloud and is generally intended for use on a server (or on "baremetal" systems, i.e. no OS yet installed). It is free open source under a GPL license. The latest desktop (and installation instructions) is available from the website. (A commercial version is also offered by Citrix.) Implementation in Ubuntu requires some modification, currently. For more info, see the Ubuntu community documentation. Install:

Virtual Machine Manager

Virtual Machine Manager is an application to allow viewing of all instances of virtual machines on your system. It includes a secure implementation of VNC. This and other virtual management tools are available as an integrated package in (K)Ubuntu. Install:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-virt-mgmt

Crossover for Linux

Codeweavers' Crossover Office for Linux is a subscription-based commercial package that allows many Windows programs to be run on Ubuntu without the need for a Microsoft OS license or a complete virtualization system. See the website for more info. Codeweavers releases older versions of this product into the free package Wine.

Wine

Wine is a free open-source package that is similar to (and implements many elements of) CrossOver for Linux. Like CrossOver for Linux, no Microsoft license or virtualization platform is required to run Windows programs. See these instructions for installing the latest version of Wine.

sudo apt-get install wine

Also consider installing Microsoft's TrueType fonts:

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

PlayOnLinux

PlayOnLinux is a Wine frontend which simplifies the installation and launch of many Windows programs, particularly games. Install:

sudo apt-get install playonlinux

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 can be installed with PlayOnLinux. Select "Internet Explorer 7" from the "Internet" section of PlayonLinux.

Internet Explorer 6 & 7

Internet Explorer 6 & 7 can function under Wine, albeit imperfectly. For most purposes, Firefox can be used (with the User Agent Switcher plugin) to mimic Internet Explorer.

Transgaming Cedega

Cedega is a commercial application (similar to CrossOver Office and Wine), for installing and running some Windows applications, specifically games, without the need for virtualization or a Microsoft license. It provides 3D support, software acceleration support, and a high level of DirectX support. Installation instructions are found on the website.

Mono

Mono is a free open source project sponsored by Novell to allow .NET programs to function in Linux ((K)Ubuntu) and Mac OS X. Several GNOME applications (like Tomboy, F-Spot, and Banshee) require mono to be installed, so mono may already be installed by default on your system. The most recent version is available here.

sudo apt-get install mono-2.0-devel

Moonlight

Java

Install Java:

sudo apt-get install default-jre

DosBox

DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, and a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card (for sound compatibility with older games). You can "re-live" classic games that otherwise won't run on newer computers.

sudo apt-get install dosbox

ScummVM

ScummVM allows certain classic graphical point-and-click adventure games to run (provided you already have their data files). ScummVM replaces the executables shipped with the games, allowing play on Linux operating systems (for which they were not originally designed).

sudo apt-get install scummvm

Google Android

Android-x86 in VirtualBox

Android-x86 can can be downloaded as an .iso image and installed to and run in Virtualbox (or QEMU, VMware, or other virtual environment). It provides a fast, efficient emulation environment with a large display but some functions and apps will not work with it.

Android SDK emulator

Android SDK for Linux is a 32-bit Android emulator/software development kit. It incorporates a QEMU virtual machine framework as part of its installation. It provides a resource-hungry, slow, but largely functional Android environment and apps can be installed from (and run within) the emulator.

Once the Android emulator SDK is installed, install an app using these ADB instructions or directly from within an app marketplace.

Games

There are hundreds of free, open-source games available in (K)Ubuntu. Most (including the KDE Games collection and the Gnome Games collection) can be accessed through the Games section of your Package Manager.

Pyscrabble (and pyscrabble-server) -- online Scrabble game and server (sudo apt-get install pyscrabble pyscrabble-server) (Also see Lexulous and the Internet Scrabble Club for browser-based online games similar to Scrabble. Internet Scrabble Club requires Java: sudo apt-get install default-jre . It also requires firewall port 1325 to be open inbound/outbound.)

Wing Commander Privateer

Vdrift

Vdrift is a free open source 3-D racing game, similar to Need for Speed, with realistic physics, multiple drift tracks, and multiplayer games. Support for joysticks, mice and keyboard is included. A binary package for Linux is available from the website.

Action

Incredible action games (including those from the Top 25) are available in Ubuntu. Many can be installed using:

Nexuiz -- an open-source multi-player first person shooter game with free servers and tournaments. (Package: nexuiz) (Server: nexuiz-server) A 35 map add-on community pack is also available here. To install it, extract the map pack to /home/username/.nexuiz/data (or ~/.nexuiz/data ).

Note: Many of these games require advanced graphics. Make sure you have the necessary hardware drivers activated.

UrbanTerror

UrbanTerror is a multiplayer first person shooter action game (with an integrated server). It uses the open-source quake 3 engine and features many real weapons and free-to-use servers for multi-player functionality. "Not recommended for adolescents in Germany." Download and install the binary using these instructions.

Doom

Skulltag

Skulltag is an updated version of ZDoom that includes network play. It is now known as Zandronum. See the Zandronum wiki for simple (K)Ubuntu installation instructions. (You can use the Freedoom Iwad (see below) if you don't have an original Doom2.wad.) Note: Most of the modules require dependencies from the Universe repositories. Make sure you have the Universe repositories enabled (Synaptic Package Manager -> Settings -> Repositories -> Edit Software Sources -> Community-maintained Open Source software (universe) -> (ticked)).

If you wish to use Midi for sound (optional), install some prerequisites :

sudo apt-get install timidity timidity-interfaces-extra

If you need more help (regarding the Zandronum-server, firewalls, and port forwarding with Zandronum/Skulltag, for example), see these additional tips.

Zandronum/Skulltag runs on any platform, with any graphics, and on almost any computer. There are thousands of add-ons, maps, and gameplay modes, giving a nearly endless variety of gameplay. The interface makes obtaining and playing the modifications very easy. This is my favorite game of all time (and I have been playing it for years).

PrBoom

PrBoom is a free open source port of the original first person shooter action game, Doom2. It does not have the advanced options of ZDoom. Freedoom is a free Iwad (set of maps) to replace the original Doom2.wad.

or alternatively, use the /usr/share/games/doom folder, giving universal privileges to the folder:

chmod -R 777 /usr/share/games/doom

Place your doom2.wad, tnt.wad, or plutonia.wad (from your original game) into this folder. If you don't have one, you can copy the Freedom version of doom2.wad from /usr/share/games/freedoom into this folder. Place any new .wad's you have downloaded from the Internet into this folder as well. Then run the game using both the original iwad map as well as your new .wad map (you will only see the new map).

Regnum Online

PlaneShift

PlaneShift is a free full-immersion online fantasy game (MMPORG). Client downloads and patches are available here.

Make the downloaded binary installation file executable:

cd /directory_where_downloaded
chmod +x PlaneShift-v0.5.4-x64.bin

Run the executable binary as root (this must be done from the command line Terminal):

sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.5.4-x64.bin

Follow the instructions for installation. When prompted whether to manually set permissions, answer "no."

During installation, most users have recommended installing this game to your /home directory as a single user installation, instead of to /opt for all users. This avoids permissions problems. I was able to install to /opt, but it takes some effort.

To run it from the menu, I had to edit the menu entries by checking the box: "Run in terminal."
Alternatively, run it from the command-line Terminal:

sudo /opt/PlaneShift/pssetup
sudo /opt/PlaneShift/psclient

Notes: This game ran very slowly for me on a 32-bit installation with a DSL connection and I gave up. The 64-bit installation worked better.

Game Emulators

DosBox (DOS emulator)

DosBox is a DOS emulator that enables older DOS programs (and games) to be run. Install:

sudo apt-get install dosbox

Tweak the DosBox settings if necessary. For more info, read the DosBox instructions (man dosbox in a command-line terminal).

Dolphin (Wii emulator)

The Dolphin emulator is an open-source cross-platform Wii emulator that allows many Wii game disks to be run on many operating systems. (Whether the Wii Netflix disk will run under the Dolphin emulator has not yet been established.) (The Dolphin-emulator has no relationship to the KDE Dolphin file manager). Installation instructions for building the latest version from source code are here. Alternatively (and more easily), a Debian (.deb) package for 64-bit (K)Ubuntu systems can be installed (after downloading) from this location.

Other Emulators

Zsnes is a Super Nintendo game emulator. It is a 32-bit package, so will require a 32-bit system to be installed first when run on a 64-bit system (sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32libs-multiarch). Install:

Internet Applications

Internet applications enable you to make full use of your Internet connection. Web browsers, Email clients, Instant Messengers, and more are included in this category.

Web Browsers

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is the ubiquitous web browser. Based on open source components, it is trademarked and cannot be altered or re-distributed with any change that involves the name or trademarks.
Install the current version:

sudo apt-get install firefox

Firefox Plug-ins

Adblock Plus plug-in (block ads in a web page)

Adblock Plus blocks ads that appear in web pages. It is an important tool to limit tracking and undesirable website elements, as well. You can subscribe to a free filter service, and can add to the block list individual ads and website elements with a single click.

sudo apt-get install xul-ext-adblock-plus

You can also add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Search All Add-ons -> AdBlock Plus. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

Recent versions of Adblock Plus allow the display of a large number of "partner" ads unless you disable this undesirable behavior:

Because Adblock Plus appears to now be creating holes in its own blocking service, it is probably worthwhile to stop automatic updates and only update Adblock Plus selectively (in case the developers in the future decide to create even more holes in the plug-in's blocking capability without the corresponding option to disable the behavior).

NoScript plug-in (controls scripts)

The NoScript plugin is considered one of the most important security measures for browsing the Internet. Most viruses and trojans gain access to computers from the Internet through scripts. This plugin allows you to choose which scripts to allow and blocks the rest.

Add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Search All Add-ons -> NoScript. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

NoScript has a long of websites on its "whitelist." It is important to review this list and remove the websites for which you don't wish to automatically allow scripts (I remove them all).

Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> NoScript -> Preferences -> Whitelist

A large number of websites use multiple locations/URLs to assemble their webpage content, a process which is blocked by NoScript's ABE (Application Boundaries Enforcer) function. I have found it necessary to disable ABE in order for most of my websites to function correctly.

Many websites now use aggressive pop-ups to place advertising in front of the actrual content. While NoScript can block these ads, there will be a "placeholder" still blocking the content unless you turn off the placeholders:

Most websites use scripting extensively these days, so that you may need to "Allow" a website in NoScript. To block the individual undesirable elements of the website, use AdBlock Plus.

Bookmark Favicon Changer plug-in

In the newest versions of Firefox, there are some bugs regarding the Favicons (the small icons that appear in the address bar) and the Bookmark icons. This plug-in will restore the icons that get erased (leaving a blank dotted box) or allow you to choose your own Favicons / Bookmark icons.

RefreshBlocker plug-in (prevents redirects)

RefreshBlocker allows the user to decide which websites (and pages) will be allowed to redirect (based on META tags within the webpage). Although Firefox (as of version 3.5) blocks all directs by default, the behavior is not customizable; it is therefore preferable to turn off the Firefox redirect control and use RefreshBlocker instead.

Add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Search All Add-ons -> RefreshBlocker. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

Turn off the Firefox automatic redirect blocker:

Firefox -> Enter about:config in the browser location bar -> right-click on "accessibility:blockautorefresh" -> Toggle to change the value from true to false

Video DownloadHelper plug-in for Firefox

The Video DownloadHelper plugin allows the download of videos (including Flash videos) from sites like YouTube.

You can add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Search All Add-ons -> Video DownloadHelper. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

User Agent Switcher plug-in for Firefox

Now that Firefox is the world's leading web browser, this plug-in should no longer be necessary. Still, there still exist a few old web apps that will only run on IE (and for them this plug-in may be useful).
The User Agent Switcher plugin allows a browser to masquerade as another browser, allowing (most of the time) browser-specific content to be displayed.

You can add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Search All Add-ons -> User Agent Switcher. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

Unplug Download Management

The UnPlug add-on lets you save video and audio which is embedded on a webpage.

You can add this extension from Firefox -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> Browse All Add-ons. (This method will also ensure that automatic updates are installed by Firefox.)

Lucifox (eBook reader extension)

Lucifox (Lucidor for Firefox) enables e-books to be read and e-book catalogs to be browsed in a Firefox window.

To install, go to the website and click "Download Now."

Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Firefox plug-in

This package also installs the Java Runtime Environment. (JRE is also installed when OpenOffice or ubuntu-restricted-extras is installed.)

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin

Note: You must accept the license to use this product.

Adobe Acrobat Reader for Firefox Plug-in

This plugin is allows you to view Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files within the Firefox browser.

VLC plug-in for Firefox

This package allows the popular VLC player to play media within the Firefox browser.

sudo apt-get install mozilla-plugin-vlc

Gecko MediaPlayer Plug-in for Firefox

Gecko MediaPlayer is a browser plugin for all Gecko-based browsers (Firefox, SeaMonkey, IceApe, Opera) that allows Mplayer to play multimedia within the browser. Install:

sudo apt-get install gecko-mediaplayer

An alternative is to use the mplayer plugin for Firefox. Install:

sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer

Kaffeine Plug-in for Firefox

This package allows the Kaffeine media player (often used in KDE-based desktops) to play multimedia within the Firefox browser.

sudo apt-get install kaffeine-mozilla

Helix player plug-in for Firefox

This package installs the Helix player (the open source player that plays Real Player content in Linux) as well as the plugin that plays RealMedia within the Firefox browser.

sudo apt-get install mozilla-helix-player

Moonlight plugin for Firefox

Moonlight is part of the Novell Mono project that is an open source implementation of Silverlight (the Microsoft multimedia presentation platform). It is based on FFMpeg. It is made to work best with the Firefox 3 web browser, as a plugin (but also works with other mozilla browsers). Version 2.3 is available as a plugin for mozilla-based browsers:

sudo apt-get install moonlight-plugin-mozilla

The stable version 2.4 is available here. The Moonlight 3.99 plugin (compatible with most Silverlight 3/4 content) is here.

Netflix under Moonlight

Netflix streaming requires both the capabilities of Silverlight 2.0 and Digital Rights Management modules. Although the current version of Moonlight 2.0 will run most Silverlight content (including Netflix content), Netflix has not yet released Digital Rights Management modules for Linux. Please contact Netflix directly for further information or sign a petition.

An HTML5 Netflix plugin (currently being developed by Google for the Chrome browser) may soon be available. Another alternative is the Netflix Android app which can be used in a virtual Android environment.

Turn off SSL certificate name in address bar

In newer versions of firefox, the validity of the SSL certificate associated with a website is displayed as a color-coded background to the Favicon (the small icon displayed in the address bar). However, Firefox currently also displays the name of the site issuing the SSL certificate, which can be annoying, since for most sites this is a duplicate of the domain name (which then gets displayed twice in the address bar). To turn off this behavior:

View Firefox cache

In a new window/tab, enter about:cache in the Firefox address bar. You can view and save individual elements (from all open windows/tabs) in the cache from there.

IceCat

IceCat is Firefox distributed without the Mozilla trademark restrictions. It is endorsed by the Debian project (on which Ubuntu is based). It is formerly known as IceWeasel and is also known as IceApe Browser.
Install the current version:

sudo apt-get install iceape-browser

SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is an open-source integrated internet application suite (including web browser, IM (IRC) client, Email client, RSS/News reader, and web development tools). It is based on the same components as the Mozilla products and shares the trademark and branding restrictions. There are many plugins, similar to those for Thunderbird and Firefox. Install:

sudo apt-get install seamonkey

IceApe

IceApe is an open-source integrated internet application suite (including web browser, IM (IRC) client, Email client, RSS/News reader, and web development tools). It is based on the same components as the Mozilla product SeaMonkey, but has no restrictive trademark licensing, and is endorsed by the Debian project (on which Ubuntu is based).
Install the current version:

sudo apt-get install iceape

Opera

Opera is a proprietary browser and internet suite (currently free on PCs) also used in some mobile devices and gaming consoles. It includes email, an address book, IRC chat, integrated BitTorrent, and webfeeds. A limited number of plugins are also available. Download from the website and follow the instructions or install from the Opera repository:

Chromium

Chromium is the open-source browser on which the Google Chrome browser is based. Install:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Start Chromium:

Menu -> Applications -> Internet -> Chromium Web Browser

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is Google's web browser. Based on the Chromium browser, Google adds the Google name and logo, an auto-updater system called GoogleUpdate, RLZ, and other Google add-ons. Download and install it here.

Usenet Clients

Pan

Kwooty

Kwooty is a Usenet reader and nzb binary downloader for KDE4. Installation instructions from source or PPA repositories are at the website.

Email Clients

Evolution

Evolution is the default Gnome-based email client in Ubuntu. If not installed:

sudo apt-get install evolution

Evolution and PGP

Email messages can be encrypted in PGP and sent by email using Evolution. See this tutorial for an example how to configure it.

Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird is a licensed and trademarked free open-source email client that is compatible with Firefox. Install:

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Lightning calendar extension

Lightning is the calendar extension for Thunderbird (with functionality similar to the stand-alone application Sunbird). It is currently available in a 32-bit version only. (If using a 64-bit OS, install the Sunbird calendar client instead.) Install by clicking on the Linux download at the website.

Enigmail

Enigmail is an add-on to Thunderbird that allows you to easily encrypt your email using OpenPGP, which is included in the kernel by default. It also allows you to create and manage the encryption keys. Go the website and click "Download Now". (64-bit versions are found here.) Install:

Thunderbird -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Install -> select downloaded file

or

sudo apt-get install enigmail

Also see these tips for instructions on setting up e-mail with PGP encryption.

New Mail Icon for Thunderbird

"New Mail Icon" is an experimental tray add-on which notifes you of new mail. Download from the website. Install:

Thunderbird -> Tools -> Add-ons -> Install -> select downloaded file

KMail

KMail (Kontact Mail) is the default email client included with Kontact in KDE (Kubuntu). Kontact includes email, an address book, a calendar, reminders, pop-up notes, a link to the Akregator News/RSS reader, time-tracking, and more. Install:

sudo apt-get install kontact

Newsreaders

Akregator

Akregator is the default news/RSS reader included with Kubuntu (KDE). Usage instructions are found in the Handbook. Install:

MLDonkey GUI frontends

Opentracker (Torrent tracker)

Opentracker is the most widely used torrent tracker software. It can be used within a private organisation or as a public service to track freely-available torrents. Download (through CVS) and installation instructions are at the website.

Videoconferencing and VOIP

Videoconferencing and voice over Internet (VOIP) applications are merging into integrated applications. Most of these applications now allow placing calls to non-Internet based telephones for a small fee.

Ekiga

Formerly known as Gnomemeeting, Ekiga is a SIP compliant fully functional open source integrated VOIP and videoconferencing program.

Wengophone

Wengophone is an integrated VOIP and videoconferencing client available on many platforms. Wengophone was initially an open-source GPL-licensed package ('Wengophone Classic'). Both the Classic version (available as a .deb file) and the current proprietary binary version are available from the website. Wengophone Classic has now been rebranded as QuteCom, however. To install the current version as an Ubuntu/Kubuntu package, see these instructions.

Download and install the older Wengophone Classic version (.deb package):

Asterisk VOIP PBX system

Asterisk is an enterprise-grade, free open source PBX and telephony system for VOIP.

sudo apt-get install asterisk

Kiax

Kiax is an LGPL-licensed open source IAX (Inter-Asterisk eXchange) application. It is used for making VoIP calls from an Asterisk PBX. The current version must be installed from source files. See the website for download and installation instructions, or see this Ubuntu Launchpad site.

OpenSIPS / OpenSER (SIP server)

OpenSIPS is an open-source SIP server that allows connections to be made through the Internet for VoIP, IM, and other communications protocols. While there are many public SIP servers, these are subject to spoofing and other "impersonation" problems. A company may wish to host its own SIP server to avoid the problems inherent in public services whose trustworthiness can not be determined. OpenSIPS is the successor to OpenSER (which is the version in the repositories). Install OpenSER 1.3.2 from the repositories:

sudo apt-get install openser

Alternately, the newest version of OpenSIPS can be downloaded as a .deb package from the website and installed. Installation and usage instructions are on the website.

Telepathy

Telepathy is a flexible, modular communications framework that enables real-time VOIP/chat communication via pluggable protocol backends (for protocols such as Jabber/XMPP/Google Talk/Jingle, link-local XMPP, SIP, MSN, Yahoo/AIM and IRC). Telepathy is a communications service that can be simultaneously accessed by many client applications (primarily Empathy), using QT4, Glib, and GtK libraries. Currently a version for the Gnome desktop (telepathy-gnome) is available. Install:

sudo apt-get install telepathy-gnome

Web meetings

Web meeting software allows video conferencing among many clients, with one server as host.

TeamViewer

TeamViewer is a proprietary cross-platform package that enables up to 25 participants to share a desktop for online meetings and provides a mechanism for users to control a PC's desktop remotely. Presentations can be viewed through most Internet web browsers, as well. A free .deb package can be downloaded here.

Privacy

An interesting perspective on Internet privacy techniques can be found here.

PGP (Message Encryption)

PGP (OpenPGP and GnuPG) is a tool to encrypt your messages (such as email) to be unlocked only by someone who has a key to unlock it.

Enigmail with Thunderbird

By far the easiest method for encrypting email is using the Enigmail add-on for the Thunderbird email client. It creates PGP key pairs, stores and retrieves keys from keyrings, and encrypts and decrypts messages automatically.

Seahorse

Seahorse is the GUI for Gnome to manage the key pairs and other options of GnuPG. It can also manage your SSH keys. For more info see this tutorial. Run:

Menu -> Applications -> Accessories --> Passwords and Encryption Keys

Web browsing

Web tracking, scripts, and advertisements are extremely intrusive on the Internet. A dossier of your online habits is created by a multitude of services, including every major portal such as Google and Yahoo, as well as a variety of tracking services on the Internet. This is accomplished through the use of the "cookies" in your browser and by a variety of web elements (sometimes called "web beacons") embedded on the web pages you visit. Your behavior is monitored and correlated by recording the IP address of your computer, even when you turn off the cookies in your browser. Still, it is highly recommended to configure your web browser to erase your cookies and history every time the web browser is closed; otherwise, every website you subsequently visit can instantly see the long list of recent websites you have visited. In Firefox, for example, cookies can be accepted for the current session but erased upon closing:

In addition, both Adblock Plus and NoScript are highly recommended as plug-ins for Firefox (and other Gecko-based browsers) to limit exposure to undesirable web elements, scripts, and tracking mechanisms.

Tor (Network Privacy)

Tor is a project to allow privacy while using the Internet and to limit usage tracking. It routes your traffic through several anonymous nodes, so that your usage appears to come from an IP other than your own. (There are always risks when using the Internet that even Tor can not help with, though. Read this.) Using Tor can slow down your Internet usage significantly, depending on how much traffic is being passed through the Tor network (routine file-sharing or large downloads will also significantly reduce performance of the Tor network.)

Install the Privoxy http proxy:

sudo apt-get install privoxy

Install Tor by following the instructions here. Note that the instructions require port 11371 on your firewall to be open to use the gpg keyserver (and download the key for the debian package). Then see the Tor installation guide for details.

Torbutton (Firefox plug-in)

Torbutton intereres with several functions of Firefox, most notably the "Drag and Drop" bookmark and menu sorting functions. Disable the plugin while attempting any Drag and Drop functions, then re-enable it afterwards.

DNS Servers and Search engines

Most users rely on the DNS server of their ISP (Internet Service Provider). DNS queries can be recorded, however, and theoretically correlated by an ISP to the data traffic to/from a user's IP address serviced by that ISP. A somewhat less trackable solution is to use a DNS service that does not belong to your ISP. This can belong to any another commercial ISP or to a third party service such as OpenDNS, Comodo, ScrubIT, Google (though slightly less secure due to Google's own tracking mechanisms), another free DNS service, or (for maximum security) a publicly-available international DNS server. For example, a Verizon customer could use the AT&T DNS servers or the OpenDNS servers. An AT&T customer could use one of the Verizon servers or the Google servers. It is important to use a reliable DNS provider, however, as man-in-the-middle DNS redirection and DNS cache poisoning attacks are increasingly common. Stick to one of the major DNS services (just not your own ISP's DNS service).

The DNS server setting can be changed in the router's settings (recommended) or individually for each computer. If changing on an individual computer, use the Network Manager or Wicd settings, or edit /etc/resolv.conf manually and change the nameservers to the addresses you desire to use:

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

Many search engines track your search requests (notably Google, Bing, and Yahoo) and keep logs of the searches they receive from your IP address. DuckDuckGo.com is a filtered search engine that has made its reputation not only by promising not to track searches, but also by providing a secure (encrypted), Tor-capable and anonymized search portal. Point your browser to https://duckduckgo.com. It can be used with your Torbutton turned on.

Many censorship/filtering/tracking techniques (that use deep packet inspection) cannot be used with secure (SSL/TLS encrypted) websites (denoted by https:// ). Use them whenever possible. For example, use the secure Wikimedia portal for Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia services) instead of the insecure portal(s).

Many websites keep logs of referring http headers (which can be correlated with cookies to track your browsing activities). To turn off the passage of referral headers in Firefox, see this info.

CAcert.org is a free certifying authority that maintains weak certificates that are recognized by many open source operating systems, but not by Firefox or most browsers. (For browsers that do not include CAcert.org recognition, certificates appear to be self-signed certificates.) While Debian incorporates CACert.org's root certificate by default, Ubuntu derivatives do not (Canonical was originally founded with funds earned from Thawte, a certifying authority founded by Mark Shuttleworth.)

Proprietary Extras

Proprietary software helps you maximize your Internet experience, but is not open source. The software available includes Multimedia Codecs, Java Runtime Environment, and plug-ins for Firefox.

Restricted Extras

The Ubuntu Restricted Extras will install Adobe Flash Player, Java Runtime Environment (JRE) (sun-java-jre) with Firefox plug-ins (icedtea), a set of Microsoft Fonts (msttcorefonts), multimedia codecs (w32codecs or w64codecs), mp3-compatible encoding (lame), FFMpeg, extra Gstreamer codecs, the package for DVD decoding (libdvdread4, but see here for info on libdvdcss2), the unrar archiver, odbc, and cabextract. It also installs multiple "stripped" codecs and avutils (libavcodec-unstripped-52 and libavutil-unstripped-49). This is a single command approach.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Note: Installation only works completely and properly when done from the command-line Terminal. The entire package will not usually install completely from within a Package Manager.

Cuneiform (Optical Character Reader)

Pdfocr is a tool to use Cuneiform for OCR and then to add the resulting text file layer back to the PDF file to make it searchable.

YAGF (Cuneiform/Tesseract GUI)

YAGF is a Qt-based GUI for Cuneiform, Tesseract, and/or XSane. Installation can be from a Debian (.deb) package from GetDeb (see these instructions as well) or by compiling from source downloaded from the original site. (Qt 4.7 or later, already the version with Oneiric, is required on your system).

Xsane (Scanning utility)

Gnome-Scan (Scanning Utility)

Gnome-Scan is a simple utility for scanning (still in alpha stage). Install:

sudo apt-get install gnomescan

Gwenview (Image Manipulator)

Gwenview is the quick image manipulator installed by default in Kubuntu (K menu -> Graphics -> Gwenview Image Viewer). Simple cut-and-paste, resizing, and format conversion are some of the graphics files manipulations that can be accomplished. Install:

sudo apt-get install gwenview

OpenClipart (ClipArt Library)

OpenClipart is a utility to provide access to a large library of free PNG, SVG, and OpenOffice clipart. It includes a utility for OpenOffice Gallery. Files are installed to /usr/share/clipart. Install:

sudo apt-get install openclipart

It is also possible to only install a single collection (openclipart-png, openclipart-svg, or openclipart-openoffice.org) in case you don't want the entire collection (or the utilities). For example:

sudo apt-get install openclipart-png

Screencasts and Desktop Recording

Several utilities allow you to capture your desktop (and then create a screencast from it).

FFMPEG with x11grab

FFMPEG includes x11grab, a module for screen capture. This method gives the best results for screencaptures and is one of the most flexible methods, allowing a variety of audio inputs and audiovisual output formats. FFMPEG must be installed first (sudo apt-get install ffmpeg). See here for more details. In brief, an example command to capture to an .avi file using the X264 video codec and lossless 16-bit sound would be:

recordMyDesktop (Desktop Session Recording)

recordMyDesktop is a desktop recording utility, which has both pyGTK and a pyQT4 GUI frontends available. Recordings are saved in Theora video/Vorbis audio files. Only the Gtk version is available from the repositories (but it works well with KDE/Kubuntu nevertheless).
To install with the gtk GUI:

sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop

Using recordMyDesktop with PulseAudio

If you have not installed Pulse Audio Controls and Volume utility, they are useful for monitoring your pulse audio devices:

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol paprefs padevchooser

Change the recordMyDesktop settings so that the capture device is the one you select through pulse audio:

xvidcap (Desktop Session Recording)

WebCamStudio

WebCamStudio creates a virtual webcam that can mix several video sources together and can be used for live broadcasting. See the website for installation instructions.

Wink (Presentation Editor)

Wink is a open source tutorial and presentation editor. It allows you to capture screenshots and use them for presentations. Download the .tar.gz source package, install using these instructions, and follow one of the user guides.

OpenShot

PiTiVi (Non-linear Video Editing Suite)

PiTiVi is a simple, limited-capability open source video editor that will be the default in newer versions of Ubuntu. It uses the GStreamer/Fluendo framework. Install:

sudo apt-get install pitivi

Avidemux (Video editor/processor)

Avidemux is a free, GPL-licensed open source cross-platform video editor and processor. Using mencoder as a backend, it allows cropping, trimming, special effects, and conversions between many filetypes (MPG/DVD, AVI, MP4, ASF). Install the GTK-based version:

sudo apt-get install avidemux

Kino (Non-linear Video Editing Suite)

Kino is a widely used GUI-based non-linear video editing suite for Linux. It imports video files into (and then uses) the DV (Digital Video) format for editing.

sudo apt-get install kino mjpegtools

KdenLive (Non-linear Video Editing Suite for KDE)

Kdenlive is a GUI-based non-linear video editing suite for KDE based on FFmpeg and the MLT video framework. It has tools for DV, video4linux, and screen capture. Install:

Camorama (sudo apt-get install camorama) is a Gtk-based webcam application that has been around for years.

Xawtv (sudo apt-get install xawtv) is a Gtk-based application. Because the Xawtv window can be arranged so that only the webcam image is shown, it is my favorite webcam display for screencasts. (Click on "X" in the window bar -> Advanced -> No Border (ticked) .)

Any of these applications can be used in either Ubuntu or Kubuntu.

Audio Applications

Audacity (Audio Editor and Recorder)

Audacity is the leading cross-platform free open source (GPL-licensed) audio recorder and editor. It can be used to record, splice, edit, and manipulate sound files similar to tools found in recording studios. Install:

sudo apt-get install audacity

Ardour (Digital Audio Workstation)

Ardour is a free, GTK-based professional-grade digital audio workstation for high end audio manipulation and mixing. Install:

sudo apt-get install ardour

Rosegarden (Digital Audio Workstation)

Rosegarden is a midi/audio interface for synthesizers, as well as a digital audio studio for recording, editing, and notating music. It is often used in combination with Audacity. Install:

UbuntuStudio (Ubuntu distribution customized for multimedia editing)

UbuntuStudio is an official derivative of Ubuntu that pre-packages many multimedia editing packages. (Each of the packages can also be installed independently.) See the website for a full list of the premier audiovisual software packages available for Ubuntu Linux.

Audio / Video conversion

Here is a nice review of some of the applications that enables conversion and handling of these types of files. Some specific examples and suggestions are here.

Mencoder

Mencoder is part of the MPlayer set of libraries (that also uses several of the FFMPEG libraries) for audio/visual conversion, including from DVD (.vob) format to other video formats. Some examples of usage are here.

FFMPEG video / audio conversion

FFMPEG is the swiss-army knife of video and audio format conversion. It succeeds when no other program can. It is free and open source. If it not yet installed on your system as part of another package (it is used by many video/audio editors), then install it:

Save any streaming Flash video

Otherwise, most Flash videos download to the /tmp directory while you watch the video, creating a randomly-named video file there (such as Flashuh4G6s). When you close the webpage, this file in the /tmp directory will be erased. After the entire video has downloaded, but before you close the webpage, copy that file (such as Flashuh4G6s) to your home directory (where it will not be erased). Of course, for this to work, you must change your Flash (or Gnash) settings to allow an unlimited buffer. While watching your Flash video, right click to bring up the Flash -> Settings window. Set the Buffer to "Unlimited."

Once you have copied the file, rename it appropriately with the .flv added to the filename. You can then watch it using VLC or Mplayer.

Save rtmp / flv streams

If you see the following the "WARNING: Download may be incomplete, try --resume!" message, try to use the --resume option:

flvstreamer -r "rtmp://host/dir/file.flv" -o filename.flv --resume

Convert Flash video audio to mp3

Once you have downloaded flash video content (.flv) from the Internet (using the Video Download Helper plug-in for Firefox, for example), the audio component can be converted to an .mp3 file. (This will work for any type of video file, not just Flash.) For details, see this section.

2ManDVD

2ManDVD is a GUI utility for creating DVD videos. It is the successor of ManDVD. Choose the version for your architecture and install it from the 2ManDVD website. Click on the download link and select to open it with the GDebi Package Installer (default). (If you have previously installed ManDVD you must uninstall it first.) For a usage tutorial, read this 2ManDVD guide.

Run:

Menu -> Applications -> Sound & Video -> 2ManDVD

DeVeDe

DeVeDe is a program to create video DVDs and CDs suitable for home players (i.e. VCD, sVCD or CVD) from any source video file that is supported by MPlayer. Choose the version for your architecture and install it from the DeVeDe website. Click on the download link and select to open it with the GDebi Package Installer (default). For a usage tutorial, read this DeVeDe guide.

Run:

Menu -> Applications -> Sound & Video -> DeVeDe

ManDVD

ManDVD is a QT-based DVD authoring tool which accepts several different file types as input. Install:

sudo apt-get install mandvd xine-ui

DVD Author

DVD author allows you to create menus and format your MPEG-2 videos onto a DVD disc so that you can play it in a commercial DVD player. DVD Author is a command line tool, but several GUI's exist. Install:

sudo apt-get install dvdauthor

QDVDAuthor

QDVDAuthor is a Qt-based GUI for DVD Author. A package for Oneiric does not exist, but the Maverick package can be used.

Enable the Maverick multiverse repository temporarily by adding it to the Synaptic Package Manager Origin of Packages ("Other" software):

Install MP3 support for SoX

For simple conversions, I have found FFMPEG to be easier, and FFMPEG already has mp3 support. Example:

ffmpeg -i audiofile.m4a -ab 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 audiofile.mp3

where -ab specifies the bit rate, -ac specifies the number of channels (in this example 2-channel stereo), and -ar specifies the sampling frequency.

CDs and DVDs

Brasero (CD/DVD burner)

Brasero is a CD/DVD burning application that is now part of the Gnome desktop (but can be used with any Ubuntu derivative). If not already installed:

sudo apt-get install brasero

Gnomebaker (CD/DVD burner)

Gnomebaker has been the default CD/DVD burning application for the Gnome desktop. If not installed:

sudo apt-get install gnomebaker

K3b (CD/DVD burner)

k3b (KDE Burn Baby Burn) is the default KDE CD and DVD burning utility included in Kubuntu, but can run well in Gnome. (Due to licensing requirements, mp3 capabilities must be installed separately as the libk3b6-extracodecs package). Install:

Recent versions of k3b have a bug that doesn't properly recognise normalize-audio. See these tips (or these tips) for a workaround.

Cdrecord troubleshooting

Cdrecord error 254

Note: The solution here has not been verified, and the problem may lie in a different module than cdrkit, such as libdvdread. This section is under construction.

The problem usually occurs when a large amount of data (around 3.5 GB or larger) is being written to a DVD-R. The wodim 1.11 (there seem to be no problems with older versions of wodim such as v1.9) and genisoimage packages from the cdrkit (or one of their dependencies) used by Debian-based distributions (including (K)Ubuntu) may be dysfunctional and may generate a message similar to "cdrecord error 254" error while burning using K3B. Alternately, any file(s) written above the 3.5 GB limit may be improperly written to DVD.

This effectively limits DVD-R burning to less than 3.5 GB. One suggested solution entails installing a current copy of cdrtools manually. One location for obtaining cdrtools .deb packages is this Launchpad PPA repository. Download and install the cdrecord .deb package for your OS type (i386 or amd64). mkisofs and cdda2wav should be installed as well, as indicated here.

Solution: Do not use the cdrecord (which includes wodim) for writing DVD disks that contain more than 3.5 Gb data. Instead, use growisofs:

k3b -> Burn -> Writing app: growisofs -> Writing mode: DAO

this has successfully allowed me to burn DVDs with more than 3.5 Gb data.

Alternatively, obtain and use the older version of k3b/cdrecord/wodim (v1.9), such as used in the Lucid Lynx. This is not an easy solution to implement other than by installing a standalone Lucid Lynx OS in its own small partition.

Cdrecord has no permission to open the device error

If you receive the "cdrecord has no permission to open the device" error while burning using K3B, open a terminal and type:

sudo chmod 777 /dev/scd0

Note: replace /dev/scd0 with your own device, e.g. /dev/sr0.

Note: chmod 777 is the universal option for granting full permission to a folder. The 777 mask indicates that read, write, and execute permission is given to all users.

DVD Playback Capability

libdvdcss

To play encrypted DVDs, the libdvdcss2 package is essential. libdvdcss2 is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs like a block device without having to bother about the decryption. More information about this package can be found at VideoLAN.

You can install libdvdcss2 as a 64-bit .deb package without installing the Medibuntu repositories:

libudf

Many newer DVDs use the UDF filesystem. To play them properly, also install libudf:

sudo apt-get install libudf0

Other tools are useful:

sudo apt-get install udftools libudf-dev

K9copy (DVD Ripper)

K9copy is the free open source DVD backup, copying, compression, and authoring utility that requires libdvdcss. For other info, see this or this guide. You can easily create MPEG-2. MPEG-4, or DVD videos with this utility.

sudo apt-get install k9copy

See this section for tips on using k9copy with mencoder and NTFS DVDs.

Tips: At times you may not be able to copy your DVD directly from DVD to DVD. This may because you have a small imperfection in the DVD, or because the DVD was initially created with a non-standard burning method. There are two methods that can help solve this problem:

Copy the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders from your original DVD directly to your hard drive. Then use k9copy to burn a DVD directly from these hard drive folders.

Use k3b (or Gnomebaker) to copy an .iso image from the original DVD to your hard drive. Then use k9copy to extract from the hard drive .iso image and then burn a DVD directly from it.

Handbrake

Handbrake is a GPL-licensed open source tool for converting DVD to MPEG-4 (iPod format) that is an alternative to k9copy. (It can handle many DVDs that k9copy cannot.) Note that Handbrake supports X264/H.264 and MP4 encoding but no longer supports the XVID video codec. It uses the .MP4/.M4V or .MKV containers, but no longer supports the .AVI container. However, it uses a streaming algorithm that (while slower than other methods) is compatible with a large variety of encryption techniques. (Following "ripping" from a DVD, the resulting .MP4 or .MKV file can be converted to other formats, such as .AVI with XVID, using these suggestions.) Installation is from the developmental PPA archive.

Acidrip

Acidrip is a DVD backup/copy program, written in GTK-based perl, that uses the Mplayer and Mencoder video/audio processing and conversion tools (and therefore yields the best quality DVD rips to an .AVI file with XVID video, for example). See the website for installation and official documentation. Install:

sudo apt-get install acidrip

DVD Fab (DVD Ripper)

DVD Fab is the favoured DVD backup tool for today's DVD encryption methods. It must be run in Wine (since it is a Windows application). It comes as a fully featured 30-day trial, but see these instructions for fine-tuning the trial period.

Music Players

Rhythmbox

Rhythmbox is the default music player in Ubuntu (Gnome), relying on the Gstreamer framework.

Play Internet Radio through Rhythmbox

Internet radio can be played through Rhythmbox by installing the rhythmbox-radio-browser plugin:

Note: Internet radio streams use many different ports. You must adjust your firewall to allow the ports over which the streams will be sent.

XMMS2

XMMS2 is a compact, fast GTK-based music player that is a fork of XMMS. It resembles WinAmp2 and can use the "Classic" WinAmp2 / XMMS skins. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is an option using a plug-in. It supports many other plugins and is ideal for streaming content. Install:

sudo apt-get install xmms2

Audacious

Audacious is a compact, fast GTK-based music player that is a fork of XMMS. It resembles XMMS2 and WinAmp2 and can use the "Classic" WinAmp2 / XMMS skins. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is a built-in option. It supports many plugins and is ideal for streaming content. Install:

sudo apt-get install audacious

You can switch between the "PulseAudio Output Plugin" and the "ALSA Output Plugin" under

Audacious -> Preferences -> Audio -> Current output plugin.

There are many places to get .wsz skins ("Classic" Winamp2/XMMS) that are compatible with Audacious, XMMS2, or QMMP:

QMMP

QMMP is a compact, fast Qt-based music player similar to XMMS2, Audacious, and WinAmp2 and can use the "Classic" WinAmp2 / XMMS skins. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is a built-in option. It supports many plugins and is ideal for streaming content. Install:

sudo apt-get install qmmp

You can switch between the "PulseAudio Output Plugin" and the "ALSA Output Plugin" under

Note: Internet radio streams use many different ports. You must adjust your firewall to allow the ports over which the streams will be sent.

Banshee Music Player

Banshee is a Gstreamer, Mono and Gtk-based music player for Linux and Mac OS X. It supports multiple mp3 players (including the iPod).There are plugins for podcasts, internet radio, and more.

sudo apt-get install banshee

Exaile Music Manager and Player

Exaile is a GTK-based music player that supports many formats, incorporates a Shoutcast directory, a plugin for iPod, Last.FM support, tabbed playlists, and other features.
Install:

sudo apt-get install exaile

Songbird Music Player

Songbird is an open source music player from Mozilla with an appearance meant to resemble iTunes. It is in current development and does not yet have full support for mp3 players (such as the iPod). It incorporates a Shoutcast internet radio interface. The current beta version can be downloaded from the website.

aTunes

aTunes is a Java-based player designed to be similar to iTunes. Installation instructions are here.

Multimedia Players

Most current video multimedia players play many video formats (as well as audio), including the Flash video .flv format.

VLC Multimedia Player

VLC is a cross-platform multimedia player that supports many formats without need for additional codecs. It can not only receive video streams (also see here to convert it to mp4), but can act as a server for video streams, as well. It is one of the only players that can view and backup almost any DVD format, no matter which copy protection is used. See these tips for using VLC to backup/rip encrypted DVDs.

sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-pulse

VLC plugins

There are many VLC plugins. You will likely only need to install a few of them, however, depending on your hardware and input/output configuration:

Dump a video stream to disc

You can dump a video stream to disc using Mplayer:

mplayer -dumpstream streamurl

If you don't know the exact URL of the stream you wish to save, you can discover it from the webpage it is embedded in by using the Firefox add-on UnPlug. Do not save streams that are illegal to download.

Xine-UI Multimedia Player

Xine UI is a multimedia player based, of course, on the xine platform. It can also play streamed video from the Internet and supports most formats, including some uncommon ones.

sudo apt-get install xine-ui

Kaffeine Video Player

RealPlayer 11 Multimedia Player

The Linux Realplayer is actually based on the open-source Helix player. Helix itself can be installed as a package easily (read Helix plug-in) and used instead of Realplayer. These instructions are to install the proprietary version of RealPlayer only.

Open a terminal and cd to the directory you have downloaded realplayer's .bin file. Then issue the following commands

chmod +x RealPlayer11GOLD.bin
sudo ./RealPlayer11GOLD.bin

When it asks for installation path enter /usr/local/RealPlayer

For all other questions just choose default by pressing enter.

If you have installed mozilla-mplayer package you will need to delete the mplayer firefox plugin for real player videos. Other wise all real player files will open with mplayer. For that please do this

cd /usr/lib/firefox/plugins
sudo rm mplayerplug-in-rm.*

Please remember to restart firefox and when ever you click on a real player video choose the option open with and use /usr/bin/realplay

Internet TV

Miro Player

Miro Player (formerly Democracy TV Player) is an open-source Internet TV and video player that allows you to watch Internet TV and videos. Unlike other video players, it contains a structured guide that includes more than 2500 channels, has built-in BitTorrent, and has features that can automatically save videos, such as from YouTube.

sudo apt-get install miro

Myth TV

Sopcast Internet TV

Sopcast is an interface to play live P2P video streams through the VLC media player. Install VLC first. This is a Chinese program and most content is hosted in China and may not be legal in your area. Please consult local regulations.

Zattoo

Zattoo is a free Internet TV player that allows you to watch terrestrial television from various countries in Europe. See the Zattoo Download page for further instructions on installation. For screenshots and an alternate installation guide, see this UbuntuGeek guide.

ABC iView

BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer provides replays and downloads of BBC programs to UK residents. The BBC, however, has crippled its streams to prevent downloading and legal actions against iPlayer appear to be in progress. (Flvstreamer may be required for rtmp stream recording). To install a Flash 64-bit edition of iPlayer:

get_iplayer (BBC program recording)

get_iplayer allows BBC streams (through their iplayer service) for UK users, as well as Hulu streams for US users, to be recorded to mp4, wav and mp3 files (depending on content). Install v2.66 (may not work for all users):

Netflix Android App

Internet Radio

Internet radio streams through different ports, so check your firewall if you are not able to play the streams.

Last FM

LastFM is a service for sharing music recommendations and individual radio streams. It is included as an option in Amarok, or can be installed separately:

sudo apt-get install lastfm

Shoutcast Internet Radio

Shoutcast is the first and last free mp3 streaming service. Hundreds of radio streams can be played through Amarok, Audacious, or other multimedia player. Simply associate the .pls streams with your favourite player (Audacious or XMMS2 recommended).

StreamTuner Stream Directory Browser

StreamTuner lists streams available on the Internet through a GTK-based interface. It lists Shoutcast and Live365 streams, among others. Install:

sudo apt-get install streamtuner

Streamripper

Streamripper is a standalone command-line utility to record online audio streams (primarily from Shoutcast). Also see these tips. A GUI front-end for KDE is available. Install:

sudo apt-get install streamripper kstreamripper

Media Centers and PVR (Personal Video Recorder)

There are a number of open-source Media Centers for Linux, some of which include personal video recorder functions. For a full list of open-source media centers, see this guide.

MythTV

MythTV is a media center with PVR (personal video recorder) for retrieving, recording, and playing broadcast and Internet TV and other multimedia content. It has many options and plugins for expansion. To be useful, you will need a compatible TV tuner card. For setup tips, see this guide. Install:

sudo apt-get install mythtv

Mythbuntu

Mythbuntu is an integrated Ubuntu (Xubuntu) desktop optimised for MythTV usage. In can be used instead of adding MythTV to a Ubuntu desktop.

XBMC

XBMC is a free, mature, open-source cross-platform media center. It does not have a PVR capability nor as many functions as MythTV, but has a very nice interface.

Boxee

Boxee is an XBMC-like open source package to allow streaming video over the Internet, including from YouTube and other sites. It is a fork of XBMC, and is still in alpha development and testing stage. It is currently available for 32-bit systems only, and recommended for Hardy. A current version is anticipated soon. (Note: Boxee does not run Netflix on Linux, despite their ads). See these download instructions.

Elisa

Elisa is a cross-platform media center that uses the Gstreamer multimedia framework. Commercial plugins are available from Fluendo. It supports PVR and Music Jukebox . Install:

uShare UPnP A/V Media Server

Home Automation / Home Theater / Home Security

Complete Systems

Linux MCE (Media Center Edition)

LinuxMCE is an integrated home theater/home security/home automation/telephone PBX/intercom system for your home. It incorporates MythTV, Pluto home automation, Motion security surveillance, Asterisk PBX, VDR video disk recorder, and other home automation/security/theater packages in an integrated platform. It is available in 32 and 64 bit versions. LinuxMCE can run either as a standalone Home Theater PC or can co-ordinate a fully networked home, using the networking capabilities that are intrinsically part of the (K)Ubuntu Linux OS. For more info see the LinuxMCE website or wiki.

The most recent stable version runs on Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy). A beta version for Kubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) has been released, and the full version is anticipated soon. LinuxMCE can be installed at the same time as the Kubuntu OS (on a new PC with an nVidia graphics card), with a single DVD installation. Alternatively, Kubuntu can be installed first and LinuxMCE then installed from a 2 CD installation.

Other systems in development

Minerva -- home automation and multimedia control with a GUI interface. It can even hook into Google Calendar.

DomotiGa -- home automation software from the Netherlands, using a MySQL database.

NetHomeServer is a Java-based cross-platform automation system authored by a single coder. It is in alpha development but can be downloaded from the website and evaluated.

The Wosh framework is message-based middleware to effect home automation processes. the project is in early development.

Home Security

Zoneminder surveillance system

Zoneminder manages surveillance cameras and stores images on the hard disk. Images can be viewed using a (LAMP) server remotely. X10 devices can be triggered using built-in perl scripts. Install:

sudo apt-get install zoneminder ffmpeg

Myth Zoneminder

MythZoneminder allows you to view your security cameras through Myth TV, essentially. It is a plugin that interfaces the two packages Zoneminder (which must be working on your system) and Myth TV (which must also be working.) See the installation instructions. Install:

sudo apt-get install mythzoneminder

Office Suites

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free and open source (GPL-licensed) office suite, with Writer (Word equivalent), Impress (PowerPoint equivalent), Calc spreadsheet (Excel equivalent), and Base relational database frontend (Access equivalent) that is now installed by default in Kubuntu. If not, it can be installed:

Open Word 2007 Documents in LibreOffice

Open Office

Open Office was installed by default in older versions of (K)Ubuntu. It has been replaced by LibreOffice (which is similar) and is no longer available in (K)Ubuntu.

KOffice

The KOffice suite is part of the KDE project and is meant to provide the capabilities of the OpenOffice suite without the licensing restrictions of OpenOffice. It can be used in any version of Ubuntu. Install:

sudo apt-get install koffice

AbiWord

AbiWord is a fast, collaboration-enabled word processor. For the most current version see the AbiWord web site. To install from the repositories:

sudo apt-get install abiword

GoldenDict (Multi-lingual Dictionary and Translator)

GoldenDict is multi-lingual dictionary and translator that supports Babylon and StarDict translation dictionary files and has multiple modular plugins. Install:

sudo apt-get install goldendict

Xournal

Xournal is a free (GPL-licensed) GTK/Gnome-based application for notetaking, sketching, or keeping a journal using a stylus. Install (universe repositories must be enabled):

sudo apt-get install xournal

PDF Files

PDF is the file format used by Adobe Acrobat (which can be read by many e-book readers as well). There are many PDF-oriented utilities available in (K)Ubuntu. In a package manager, search for "pdf".

Print to a PDF file

(K)Ubuntu allows printing of any document to the PDF format by default. From any application:

File -> Print -> Print to File -> Output: PDF

View a PDF document

Evince is the default PDF document viewer in Ubuntu. PDF files are associated by default with Evince, so clicking on a PDF file (from a file manager such as Nautilus) will open it with Evince. Evince can also be started:

Menu -> Office -> Evince

Scan to a PDF file

Gscan2pdf is a utility to do exactly that: scan to a PDF file. Multiple options for scanning can be set. Install:

sudo apt-get install gscan2pdf

PDF-Shuffler (PDF file management)

PDF-Shuffler is a free GTK-based utility to manipulate multiple PDF files, allowing individual pages or entire PDF documents to be re-arranged, rotated, merged, or deleted. This is an essential tool for working with PDF files. Install:

sudo apt-get install pdf-shuffler

Run:

Menu -> Office -> PDF-Shuffler

MaxView (PDF file management)

MaxView is a utility to capture, manipulate and rearrange, and print .pdf and .max files. Written in Qt, it is similar in some respects to Paperport.

Download and install the .deb package (use i386 instead of amd64 if using a 32-bit OS):

Start MaxView in a GUI by creating a menu item with the Command: maxview /home/user, where /home/user is the directory in which you wish MaxView to start.

PDFMod (PDF file management)

PdfMod is a Gnome-based application to reorder, rotate, and remove pages, export images from a document, edit the title, subject, author, and keywords, and combine documents via drag and drop. Install:

PDFedit (PDF file editor)

PDFedit is a free (GPL-licensed), Qt-based PDF file editing and manipulation program that uses a GUI for editing. Install:

sudo apt-get install pdfedit

Import PDF files into a word processor

Import PDF files into LibreOffice Writer

PDF files can be imported into the LibreOffice Writer word processor as a hybrid document (not a scanned character document) by installing:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-pdfimport

Import PDF files into KWord

Kword is the Word Processor package in KOffice. It allows the importing of PDF files by default.

PDF-XChange (PDF file editor)

PDF-XChange is a free Windows-based application to view, modify, or perform simple editing of PDF files. It works under Wine.

DjVu files

DjVu is an open source file format that is an alternative to PDF. Files in this format are more compact while retaining image-layer separation of images and text. DjVu files can be read by both Evince (in Ubuntu) and Okular (in Kubuntu).

Sigil (eBook editing and conversion)

Sigil allows creation and editing of an eBook in .epub format and conversion from other formats. Download and install the binary from the website.

eCub (eBook editing and conversion)

eCub allows creation and editing of an eBook in .epub format and conversion from other formats. Download and install the .deb package from the website.

Scripts and Screenplays

Trelby is an open source alternative to Final Draft. A .deb package can be downloaded from the website and installed directly.

Using a MediaWiki extension, a screenplay can be written in MediaWiki, allowing conversion to other formats.

Personal Information Managers

Kontact Personal Information Manager

Kontact is the default PIM included with Kubuntu. Kontact includes email, an address book, a calendar, reminders, pop-up notes, a link to the Akregator News/RSS reader, time-tracking, and more. Its many functions resemble MS-Outlook. Through connectors it interfaces with many groupware servers (such as Kolab and eGroupware). Install:

sudo apt-get install kontact

Mozilla Sunbird (Calendar)

Sunbird is a standalone group calendar client that in the future will be replaced by the Lightning extension for Thunderbird and Firefox. (It is available in a 64-bit and 32-bit version, whereas the Lightning extension is currently only available in a 32-bit version.) Download from the website and install by clicking on the downloaded file to extract, or:

Financial Software

KMyMoney (Personal Finance Management)

KMyMoney is a personal finance manager that uses double entry accounting, the method professional accountants use. It is similar to MS-MyMoney and Intuit Quicken, with automatic setup of categories for businesses. It is designed for the KDE/Kubuntu desktop (but will work in Gnome/Ubuntu). Install:

sudo apt-get install kmymoney2

GnuCash (Personal Finance Management)

GnuCash is a free, open source GPL-licensed personal finance manager that uses double entry accounting like professional accountants. It is GTK-based (Gnome 2). The current version can be installed from source files (see the website for installation instructions), or the package version can be installed:

sudo apt-get install gnucash

Skrooge (Personal Finance Management)

Skrooge is a free, GPL-licensed personal finances manager written for the KDE desktop that is able to import/export data to/from many other finance managers.

sudo apt-get install skrooge

Moneydance (Personal Finance Management)

Moneydance is a commercial cross-platform Java-based personal finance manager similar to KMyMoney that sells for $50 per license.

SQL-Ledger (Enterprise Finance Management)

SQL-Ledger ERP is a free, open-source, platform independent double-accounting-method system and enterprise resource planner (inventory, work and purchase orders, taxes, etc.) that uses the SQL database server (PostgreSQL/Oracle/Mysql databases). It uses a web browser for an interface and be accessed remotely. It is extremely comprehensive and is available in many languages. Install:

sudo apt-get install sql-ledger

LedgerSMB (Enterprise Finance Management)

LedgerSMB is a fork of the SQL-Ledger project that offers fairly solid AR, AP, and GL tracking as well as inventory control. It is in rapid development and encourages community support. A Debian (.deb) package is available here.

WebERP (Enterprise Finance Management)

WebERP is a free, open-source enterprise resource planner and accounting suite similar to SQL-Ledger that uses a web browser as an interface. It runs on the LAMP server. It is somewhat difficult to implement and use, but conforms to strict accounting guidelines. Set up your LAMP server first, then install using the web site instructions.

Phreebooks (Enterprise Finance Management)

Phreebooks is a free open-source enterprise resource planner and accounting suite similar to WebERP. It also runs on a LAMP server. It is in active development in 2008. A demo is available at the website.

Quasar (Enterprise Finance Management)

Quasar is a proprietary Linux-based accounting suite similar to Quickbooks. For a single user without point-of-sale or networking needs, it is free. For other users it costs CA$500 per seat. An installer for KDE-based systems is here.

Groupware

Groupware solutions include shared calendars, group email servers, groups address lists, group projects, and internal messaging. They require (one or more) servers with LAMP or similar server stacks.

Groupware Servers

Groupware servers are meant to operate on a server platform. You should install the server version of Ubuntu (in the interest of speed) for a dedicated groupware server. Read Servers.

Kolab

Kolab is the most comprehensive open-source groupware solution available and is distributed as a multi-platform solution. (It integrates easily with both Ubuntu (including Evolution) and KDE/Kubuntu (including Kontact).) It is free and open source with a GPL license (unlike other groupware solutions), yet enterprise support is also available. It is scalable to large organizations and is Outlook (MS-Exchange) and Mozilla compatible. This is a German package, however, and documentation in English can occasionally be limited. The Kolab website provides its own instructions for installation from source (currently v. 2.2). Version 2.2 includes the Horde web interface. The current beta Debian package instructions are here or the OpenPkg installation instructions are here.

Note: Kolab uses its own server components, and it is best to run Kolab on a dedicated server. However, it is possible to run other servers on the same machine, as long as you choose alternate ports if the server modules conflict.

Install the compiler and other necessary stuff:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Kolab Ubuntu package

There is an Ubuntu/Kubuntu package for the new version of Kolab (v. 2.2), but no documentation support for it yet exists. Install:

sudo apt-get install kolabd

Manual Kolab installation

Make a directory for the Kolab installation and make it universally accessible:

sudo cd /
sudo mkdir /kolab
sudo chmod 777 /kolab

Optional: If you wish to mount kolab in its own partition, then create a new partition (using Gparted, for example). Figure out the device name of your extra partition:

Obviously, you should know all your details, such as your fully qualified host name (which you can determine from hostname -f), domain details, etc., before doing this step. If you are not familiar with OpenLDAPand LDAP basics, you should learn about it, as Kolab uses the slapd OpenLDAP server daemon.

Restart all Kolab services:

sudo /kolab/bin/openpkg rc all start

Login to the web administrator interface using "manager" and the password you set at bootstrap configuration:

https://yourhost.yourdomain.name/admin

Citadel

Citadel is a turn-key fully open source groupware solution (that is both KDE and Kolab-1 compliant). Based on a bulletin-board framework spanning over 20 years, it is user friendly and interfaces with both KDE and Gnome apps and also has a web-based client. It is also WebDAV compliant and can be used with Thunderbird.

Install the Citadel server:

sudo apt-get install citadel-server

Install the Citadel client:

sudo apt-get install citadel-client

Install both:

sudo apt-get install citadel-suite

eGroupware

eGroupware is a robust and stable free open source groupware solution (with GPL license) based on the LAMP stack (the default server stack included with Ubuntu Server) and the Postfix mail server (both of which should be installed first). There is a new version recently available, with a new corporate sponsor in Germany and a commercial enterprise version. Compatibility with many clients has been improved. Egroupware provides the easiest installation and quickest setup time of all groupware solutions. Much of the documentation for the current version, unfortunately, is not in English.

sudo apt-get install egroupware

Open-Xchange

Open-Xchange is a proprietary groupware solution (meant as an MS-Exchange replacement) that has released a "community edition" based on commercial versions. The latest .deb package is for Hardy Heron 8.04. It is compliant with many different types of clients, including Kontact, Outlook, and Palm PDAs. Installation instructions are at the website and are not trivial.

OpenGroupware

OpenGroupware is a groupware solution based on the postgreSQL database. There is an enterprise version and a limited open source version, and development appears to have been stagnant in 2008. Installation must be from source, as packages are very outdated. See the website for details.

Zarafa

Zarafa is the leading European MS-Exchange replacement/groupware solution. It is proprietary, but a GPL-licensed (except for trademarks) free open-source community edition was released in 2008. Download instructions are available from the website.

Zimbra

Zimbra is a proprietary groupware solution (now owned by VMWare) that offers an open source "community edition". Although currently free, the community edition is limited in features and does not have a GPL license. All submitted modifications and contributions become the property of VMWare. See the Zimbra wiki.

A Beta version for Lucid Lynx 10.04 LTS is available for 64-bit users, or the older Hardy 8.04 version can be used.

SchoolTool

SchoolTool is a free open source groupware solution for use in primary and secondary schools which includes calendaring, gradebooks, attendance records, and student information databases. It was created with the help of the Shuttleworth Foundation (which also sponsors Ubuntu). See these installation instructions.

SugarCRM Community Edition

SugarCRM is a customer-relationship management system that is used to co-ordinate a sales force (sales, marketing, support, project management, calendaring). SugarCRM has a community edition that is one of the most widely used. A LAMP server stack should be installed first ( sudo tasksel install lamp-server ). Extract SugarCRM to /var/www and then logon to http://localhost/SUGAR-FOLDER. Alternatively, for a new server SugarCRM provides a (binary) integrated installation of the LAMP stack with the SugarCRM Community Edition.

Groupware Clients

Many groupware solutions have connectors to interface with clients such as Kontact/KMail and Mozilla Thunderbird (or SeaMonkey).

Darwin Calendar Server

Darwin Calendar Server is an open-source port of Apple's CalDAV-based calendar server that works with Mozilla Thunderbird/Lightning/Sunbird, Evolution, and other calendar clients. Install version 1.2 from the repositories (then see the website for usage instructions):

sudo apt-get install calendarserver

WebCalendar

WebCalendar is an ICS-based server for group calendars that can use many different databases as the backend, is written in PHP, and is compatible with clients such as Sunbird/Thunderbird (Lightning), Apple iCal, and Evolution. The newest version can also be viewed using RSS clients. See the website and the wiki for installing the newest (1.2) version. Install the older (1.05) version from the repositories:

sudo apt-get install webcalendar

Mail servers

Postfix / Dovecot (Mail Server)

Postfix is a free open source mail server. It interfaces directly to Dovecot, the free open source IMAP and POP3 server. For more information see the official Ubuntu documentation. The dovecot-postfix metapackage installs the components and customizes the configuration files to use the Maildir (mail spooling) folder system by default. Imap and Pop3 modules, SMTP, and SASL/TLS (with self-signed certificates) are installed by default.

Roundcube (webmail)

Roundcube is an open source (GPL-licensed) webmail package (written in AJAX) for use with an IMAP (or other type of) mail server. It requires a LAMP (or similar) server stack. See the Ubuntu Community documentation.

sudo apt-get install roundcube

iRedMail

iRedMail is an integrated package that includes Dovecot, Postfix, a choice of OpenLDAP (with phpLDAPAdmin) or MySQL for the database, Roundcubemail or Squirrelmail for web-based mail access, phpAdmin, PostfixAdmin, and AWStats. It is optimized for Lucid 10.04 LTS and is best installed on a fresh server (since it resets many email configuration files). There is a community edition with many of the features of the commercial edition.

Wiki software

Wiki software allows an organization to have a manual that can be edited by a number of collaborators. Wikipedia is the best known example.

MediaWiki

MediaWiki is the free, open source server software that Wikipedia uses. It is scalable to very large uses. It runs on the LAMP server stack (which uses the MySQL database and is available as an installation option with the (K)ubuntu server), or it can be used with a postgreSQL database. See these detailed instructions. (Other instructions are also available here.) Install from the repositories:

sudo apt-get install mediawiki

Edit the config file so it recognizes MediaWiki:

sudo nano /etc/mediawiki/apache.conf

Uncomment (remove the #) the line:

Alias /mediawiki /var/lib/mediawiki

Restart apache2:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Run/install MediaWiki by logging into:

http://localhost/mediawiki

You will be prompted for configuration variables to be set. The trickiest is the MySQL user/password. Hopefully you remember your MySQL superuser that you set at the time of LAMP (or MySQL) installation.

Copy your local settings configuration file to /etc/mediawiki (and make a backup of the original):

If you are using a virtual host server, make a symbolic link (named in this example mywiki) from your /usr/share/mediawiki installation folder to your /var/www folder:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/mediawiki /var/www/mywiki

then make sure you have an apache2 virtual hosts configuration file (in /etc/apache2/sites-available) that points to /var/www/mywiki as the DocumentRoot. Make a symbolic link from your virtual host configuration file in /etc/apache2/sites-available to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled to enable it. Restart apache2 after enabling the sites. (Warning: MediaWiki is not secure at installation and can be easily hacked by new users. Do not publish your wiki to the Internet before reading all the instructions and changing the configuration file (LocalSettings.php) so that it is more secure.)
You would then access the database at:

Twiki

Twiki is an open source wiki engine used by many small to medium size companies internally. It has an active development team with multiple plugins. See the website for installation instructions. Install:

sudo apt-get install twiki

TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is an open source personal wiki. It is ideal for creating a list of things to do, note taking, or as a collaboration tool for a small team. It is a single HTML file that can reside on your computer or can even be uploaded to a web server and be used as a simple website. It is developed using a Firefox browser as an interface. Installation instructions are on the website.

Web Publishing

Drupal (Web content publishing)

Drupal is the leading open-source website creation and content collaboration tools. A modular approach to website building, from simple out-of-the-box websites to complex sites is possible with a short learning curve. Get more info on how to get started. Drupal requires an installation of a LAMP server stack; if you have not already installed LAMP, it will be installed along with Drupal. I have found it easier to use the MySQL database (the "M" in LAMP), but Drupal can also integrate with PostgreSQL if you have it installed.

Drupal7

The package for your system (32-bit or 64-bit) can be downloaded and directly installed on a newer (K)Ubuntu OS, or the Debian repository can be added (as mentioned in the instructions on the download page) and then the package installed using a package manager such as Synaptic or KPackageKit.

Installation quirks

Exim vs. Postfix

Exim and Postfix are mail handlers. I had installed Postfix at the time I installed my Ubuntu server (but was not using it). But Drupal6 uses Exim and therefore removes Postfix at installation and installs Exim instead. Therefore, it is better not to use Drupal6 on a mail server that uses Postfix.

WordPress

WordPress is a popular free open source web content manager that started as a blog tool and now incorporates many publishing elements. For bloggers and small to medium-sized websites, WordPress provides the fastest installation and customization process with many modules. WordPress requires an installation of a LAMP server stack first. Then install:

sudo apt-get install wordpress

Make a symbolic link from your Apache2 www folder to your installation folder and install a new MySQL database named localhost to use with WordPress:

Note: If you already know the name of your (virtual) host URL for WordPress, then use it as the name of your database instead of localhost. For example, my URL is mysite_x.homeserve.org so my command is:

If you will access your WordPress server through a virtual host, then create your virtual host configuration file in the /etc/apache2/sites-available folder. Once you have edited the file, make a symbolic link from it to the /etc/apache2/sites-enabled folder. Restart apache2:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Install WordPress through a browser:

http://localhost/wordpress

or, if you are using a virtual host:

http:/mysite_x.homeserve.org/wordpress

Note: The Jaunty repositories contain version 2.7.1, which is subject to a security worm. If you install this version, please update immediately to the current version from the Tools -> Upgrade menu. (Alternatively, install the current source version from the website.)

For the automatic updater to work, all the WordPress files, folders, and subfolders must be owned by www-data (which is also the owner of the apache2 process) prior to updating.

sudo chown -R www-data /usr/share/wordpress

Joomla (Web content publishing)

Joomla is a powerful open source website creation and content management tool that allows website creation for use in every arena from the simple to complex corporate environments. Info for beginners is a good place to start.

Scribus (Desktop publishing)

Scribus is an open-source package that provides professional-appearing desktop publishing.

sudo apt-get install scribus

Plone (Content Management System)

Plone is a free, open source (GPL-licensed) multi-platform content management system used by many large organizations around the world. It is available with an integrated installer here. Some users have had some difficulties in Jaunty, due to changes in Python.

Gallery (Photo album website)

Gallery is a PHP-based method of presenting a photo album on a website. A Drupal interface is also available for Gallery2. Install:

sudo apt-get install gallery2

phpBB (Forums)

phpBB is the leading open source platform for Forums. A LAMP server stack (or PostgreSQL database instead of MySQL) will be required and should be installed first. Then make sure the universe repositories are enabled and install:

sudo apt-get install phpbb3

Distance teaching

Moodle

Moodle is a free open source platform for hosting online learning courses. It can be integrated with webinar software. A LAMP server installation is required (sudo tasksel install lamp-server). Also find free Moodle themes here. Install:

sudo apt-get install moodle

Database server software for Moodle: mysql-server -> follow remainder of instructions. Assuming the database is hosted on the same computer as the one Moodle is being installed upon, accept localhost for the options when prompted.

Claroline

Claroline is a free open source platform for hosting e-learning courses and online student collaboration. A LAMP server installation is required. Installation is from source files available at the website, with instructions found here.

Dokeos

Dokeos has a free learning platform, but also a medically-oriented proprietary platform that includes modules for case presentations and imaging. It is widely used in Europe.

Software Development

Kompozer Web Development Editor

Kompozer is a Gecko-based web authoring system that combines web page editing with web file management in a WYSIWYG manner. It supports XML, CSS, and JavaScript in an XUL architecture.

sudo apt-get install kompozer

Quanta Plus (Web IDE)

Quanta Plus is an integrated development environment integrated with the KDE desktop. It allows webpage development, database design, and XML design and scripting, for example, using multiple development tools. The latest stable version is 3.5, however, and integrates with the KDE 3.5 environment (Ubuntu Hardy Heron). You should therefore use Ubuntu Hardy Heron with this product. (There is also a commercial version (Quanta Gold), also oriented towards KDE 3).

sudo apt-get install quanta kompare kxsldbg cervisia

Netbeans IDE

Netbeans is a free open-source integrated development environment used to create applications using Ajax, Ruby, pHp, Groovy, Java, Javascript, C++, and other scripting tools.

Gobby (Multi-user development)

Gobby is a free, multi-platform open source collaborative editor supporting multiple documents in one session and a multi-user chat. Install:

sudo apt-get install gobby

Eclipse IDE

Eclipse is a free open-source cross-platform integrated development environment with plugin support for a large set of programming languages, e.g. Java, C/C++, Python, PHP.

sudo apt-get install eclipse

Version control software

Copies of software being developed at many different locations require a method to ensure that the multiple distributed copies remain synchronized. This can be done using a central repository or using a distributed synchronization technique. For further information, see the official Ubuntu documentation. Several version control platforms exist:

WebDAV (online folders)

Maps and GPS

In addition to several online mapping services (such as Google Maps, MapQuest, and the open source OpenStreetMap), self-contained map packages can be installed on your computer (to be used with or without Internet access).

Google Earth

Google Earth gives you an annotated eagle's eye view of our planet. This is a free proprietary package (you must accept the license to use this package).

To install the latest Linux binary, download and save the GoogleEarthLinux.bin (currently version 5 ) package from Google Earth downloads. (You may alternatively download the previous version (4.3), named googleearth-linux-plus-4.3.7284.3916.bin or something similar.)

wget http://dl.google.com/earth/client/current/GoogleEarthLinux.bin

Then install:

chmod +x GoogleEarthLinux.bin
./GoogleEarthLinux.bin

Run:

K menu -> Internet -> Google Earth 3D planet viewer

You should turn off the Google Earth -> View -> Atmosphere setting, or you might see clouds everywhere and the ground won't show up.

Troubleshooting

If Google Earth opens, shows the splash screen, and then crashes, you’re probably experiencing a common issue. Running ~/google-earth/googleearth in a terminal will show this error:

To fix this, browse to the folder you installed Google Earth into. (If you installed manually, this will be google-earth in your home folder.) Find the file libcrypto.so.0.9.8 and rename it to something else, like libcrypto.so.0.9.8.bak. Google Earth should now start correctly.

For example, if you turned on OpenGL desktop effects (using K Menu -> System Settings -> Desktop -> Desktop Effects -> General -> Advanced Options) and your display goes blank and you can't restore it, you will have to edit the settings file manually from the command-line to reset your mistake.

nano ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc

In the section title [Compositing], under the line Backend=OpenGL (or whichever backend you had selected) change the line below it to read:

Enabled=false

The will reset your display and you can then reboot successfully into your default display (to try different settings from the menu again, if you wish).

Uninstall Google Earth

To uninstall run the uninstall shell script located in the /home/user/google-earth folder (or whichever folder you installed google-earth into).

GPS

Tux Mobil has a list of Linux applications for use with GPS devices, and compatible hardware. Two GPS packages are available from the Ubuntu/Kubuntu respositories:

Viking is a free open source package to view GPS data in maps, and to plot co-ordinates. This has been reviewed as the best Linux GPS mapping program.

sudo apt-get install viking

GPS Drive is a free navigation software package that displays your position on a zoomable map using your GPS device. It is GTK-based but can be used in Kubuntu. It uses the gpsd daemon that interfaces with a variety of GPS hardware. A .deb package of the current version is also available from the website. Install:

sudo apt-get install gpsdrive

tangoGPS is a beautiful, lightweight GPS mapping program that uses map data from the Openstreetmap project. Is is a GPL-licensed open source project. A .deb package can be found here.

Celestial (Star) Maps

Celestia

Celestia is a free planetarium and space simulator for the desktop. Install:

VistA (Enterprise Electronic Health Record)

OpenVistA and WorldVistA are two varieties of the largest and most robust CCHIT-approved electronic health record platform in the public domain. They are GPL licensed, are based on the US Veterans Administration health record system, and can be installed as an integrated database, server, and client system. See the detailed download and installation instructions for OpenVistA and WorldVistA, or visit Vistapedia for other instructions. Also see the Ultimate Server with OpenVistA EHR.

CAD

QCAD is a commercial CAD alternative to AutoCAD with a community open source edition. Install:

sudo apt-get install qcad

VariCAD is a commercial 3D CAD package for multiple platforms (including Linux). There is no open source or community version.

Mathematical solutions

Scilab, Octave, and Freemat are three open source solutions for solving complex numerical mathematical problems. Symbolic mathematical problems can be solved with Maxima and Mathomatic. All of these programs are included in the Ubuntu Universe repositories.

Octave

Gnu Octave is a free, open source (GPL licensed) platform for solving linear and non-linear equations, similar to (and mostly compatible with) Matlab. It interfaces well with Gnuplot. For troubleshooting tips, see this thread. Install:

sudo apt-get install octave3.0

Also recommended:

sudo apt-get install libatlas3gf-base gnuplot qtoctave

Note: QTOctave is a GUI for Gnuplot or Easyplot 1.1, and and the ATLAS library is an algebra-software-optimization set of utilities.

EasyPlot 1.1 is an alternative to GnuPlot, with a version that can be used with QTOctave. It must be installed from source.

An older GUI for Octave/Gnuplot is qgfe (available as the package qgfe).

Freemat

Freemat is a free, open source (GPL licensed) platform for solving linear and non-linear equations, similar to (and mostly compatible with) Matlab. Install from Add/Remove Programs (Edutainment) or

sudo apt-get install freemat

Maxima

Maxima is a free, open source (GPL licensed) computer algebra system (CAS) for doing symbolic mathematics. It can solve equations with many variables, simplify expressions, do calculus, and many other advanced operations. To install:

sudo apt-get install wxmaxima

To run, enter:

maxima

or select wxMaxima from the Applications/Science menu. wxMaxima is the standard Maxima GUI.

Mathomatic

Mathomatic is a free, open source (LGPL licensed) command-line computer algebra system for doing calculations and symbolic mathematics. It can automatically solve and simplify algebraic equations, do some calculus, and other simple but useful operations. To install:

sudo apt-get install mathomatic mathomatic-primes

To run, enter:

mathomatic

or select it from the Applications/Science menu.

Amateur Radio applications

Fldigi is a free, open-source (GPL) application for digital-mode amateur radio communications using a sound card. Enable "Community Maintained Software (universe)" in Software Sources; then install either from Add/Remove Programs under (Amateur Radio) or by typing

sudo apt-get install fldigi

Amateur Electronics

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, and hobbyists interested in creating interactive objects or environments. See this tutorial.

LaTeX

LaTeX is a LaTeX is a free high-quality typesetting system for the production of technical and scientific documentation.

LyX

LyX is a WYSIWYG frontend and GUI interface useful in creating documents formatted for LaTeX. Install:

sudo apt-get install lyx

LaTeX Reference Managers

The standard LaTeX bibliography (BibTeX) tool can be manipulated with one of several tools:

Miscellaneous software (not endorsed by this guide)

JBidwatcher

JBidwatcher is a Java-based application allowing you to monitor auctions, submit bids, snipe (bid at the last moment), and otherwise track your auction-site experience. See the website for more details.

Utilities

Utilities facilitate everyday tasks, such as keeping the clock up to date, archiving utilities, and more.

Archiving Utilities

ZIP

The command-line terminal utility ZIP creates files that are compatible with the time-honored PKZIP and WinZip. It is included in (K)Ubuntu by default. Extracting zip files can be done with the unzip utility. Using the -P option allows the creation of a password for the zip file:

zip -r -P mypassworddestination.zip *

Note: The -r option indicates to include all subdirectories recursively. The wildcard * adds all files in the directory, but you can specify individual filenames as well. If special characters are to be used in the password, designate them with a preceding \. For example, if the password is to be notsosecure123# then the command should be

zip -r -P notsosecure123\#destination.zip *

For more info, enter in the command-line terminal:

man zip

FileRoller (Archiving GUI)

X-archiver (Archiving GUI)

Xarchiver is a GTK-based GUI front-end for many archiving utilities. Install:

sudo apt-get install xarchiver

BChunk

BChunk is a command-line utility that allows you to convert .cue and .bin files into an .iso file (so that they can be opened and manipulated in Ubuntu).
Warning: If the bin/cue image has audio tracks, they will be lost.

Get BChunk

sudo apt-get install bchunk

To convert .cue and .bin files, navigate to the folder and run this command (replacing filenames with your own):

bchunk inputfilename.bin inputfilename.cue outputfilename.iso

After the file is converted into ISO you can mount it using:

sudo mount -o loop outputfilename.iso /media/output

Navigate to /media/output and you should see all the content there. You can then copy it anywhere.

To unmount:

sudo umount /media/output

HJSplit Files Joiner/Splitter

HJSplit for Linux (Java version).

Make sure you have Java Runtime Environment installed:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre

Download the HJSplit JAR file:

wget http://www.freebyte.com/download/hjsplit/hjsplit_g.jar

Create the directory for HJSplit:

sudo mkdir /opt/hjsplit

Move the file to an appropriate directory:

sudo mv hjsplit_g.jar /opt/hjsplit/

Run:

cd /opt/hjsplit/ && java -jar hjsplit_g.jar

Note: You could also make a terminal shortcut (menu item) in K Menu Editor.

Rar

Rar archives files into the proprietary .rar format.

sudo apt-get install rar

This application is a 40-day trial.

Unrar

Unrar extracts files archived with the proprietary .rar format. A free version can be installed:

sudo apt-get install unrar-free

or the proprietary version (also free for noncommercial use) can be installed with the ubuntu-restricted-extras package or with:

sudo apt-get install unrar

7-Zip

The open-source 7-Zip archive format was originally designed for Windows (and DOS) but is also available for Ubuntu. The GNU/Linux version of 7-Zip does not come with a GUI, but Ark can hook into 7-Zip to handle 7z archives. Install:

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full

To allow the 7-Zip extension for Ark to extract .rar files, also install:

sudo apt-get install p7zip-rar

Hard Drive Utilities

KDiskFree (Hard drive properties monitor)

Clock Utilties

Screensavers

A screensaver is useful as a security precaution as well as a power and screen element saver. Using even a simple "Blank Screen" screensaver with a password can slow a potentially malicious passerby from gaining access to your keyboard and computer while you are away from your desk.

Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Screen Saver

Set a security password:

Screen Saver -> Lock screen when screensaver is active (ticked)

Partition Managers

Also see these tips for partitioning scheme suggestions, other partitioning tools and methods, and usage of multiple partitions for multiple OSs.

GParted Partition Manager

Gparted is a GTK (Gnome)-based partition manager that can also be used with KDE.

This utility works best when run from a LiveCD. Recent versions of the Ubuntu LiveCD have a copy of GParted on them. Start the Ubuntu LiveCD in demo mode (not in install mode) and then start GParted:

You can also install the package into your OS (once it is installed on your hard drive):

sudo apt-get install gparted

System Backup and Recovery

Rsync

Rsync is the directory backup and transfer tool for Linux. It is installed by default in Ubuntu. It can provide any type of backup, and options are extensive. Several GUI frontends for Rsync are listed here.

GRsync

Bacula

Bacula is the most widely-used GTK-based open source (GPL-licensed) network backup utility that is used in both server and desktop installations. A catalogue of backups can be maintained using MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite. For more info see the Ubuntu documentation. Both text-based and GUI frontends are available. Install the MySQL version:

sudo apt-get install bacula

SBackup

SBackup is a simple backup and restore utility for the GTK-desktop. Install:

sudo apt-get install sbackup

Keep (Backup and Recovery)

Keep is a QT/KDE based backup utility used in previous versions of Ubuntu. It is no longer maintained and is not included in Ubuntu by default. Install:

sudo apt-get install keep

Run:

Menu -> Applications -> System Tools -> Keep (Backup System)

Backup:

Click "Add a Directory to Backup"

Select directories you wish to backup

Select a location to place the backup

Set how often you wish the backups to take place, and how long to keep them

Click "Backup Now"

Select the directory groups you wish to backup.

Recover:

Click "Restore a Backup"

Select the directory groups you wish to restore.

Partimage (Partition backup)

Partimage is a free open-source utility to back up an entire partition into an .iso image. It can be used across a network, as well. Install and run:

sudo apt-get install partimage
sudo partimage

Partimage cannot be used from within the partition you wish to backup. You will either have to run it from a different partition or from a LiveCD that contains it. (A serious limitation of Partimage is its inability to backup/restore split image files to/from multiple media (e.g. spanned DVDs/CDs), limiting its usefulness as an inexpensive cloning and distribution solution. Partition image backup/restoration must be to/from a single hard drive, large capacity USB stick, or networked storage space.)

cp

An entire partition's filesystem can easily be copied to another partition using the cp -a command. (However, this cannot be done for the partition of a filesystem that is running. Use the (K)Ubuntu LiveCD to copy partitions when necessary.) Obviously the destination partition should be as large or larger than the source partition, and while not necessary, probably is best if both partitions are of the same filesystem type (e.g. ext4). Use GParted to create or manipulate the destination partition, if necessary. To copy the entire filesystem, for example, from the ext4 partition /dev/sda6 into the ext4 partition at /dev/sda7, mount both partitions:

Of course, once the partition's filesystem is copied, a bootmanager (Grub2 or Grub Legacy) will have to be updated/reconfigured to recognize the new partition's OS in order to enable it to boot. Also, the /etc/fstab file of the new partition's filesystem may need to be edited (in regards to the UUIDs of the various partitions), to prevent conflicts. To determine the UUIDs of all current partitions on a hard drive:

sudo blkid

Edit fstab so that the UUIDs are correctly reflected there.

To confirm that the file copy has completed, the Linux command du (also see these tips) can be used to calculate the disk usage for both the source and destination folders in order to compare the values (to ensure that they are the same). For example, the values should be the same for both partitions after copying has completed:

sudo du /media/partsda6
sudo du /media/partsda7

dd

dd is a *nix command that enables the copying of files or an entire disk using a single command. Parameters must be precisely specified to avoid risk of accidentally erasing data. See these brief instructions or these instructions for detailed options. You cannot copy a hard drive that contains the operating system you are currently running. Instead, boot into a LiveCD and run the dd command that way. An example command to copy Hard drive X to Hard drive Y is:

dd if=/dev/hdx of=/dev/hdy

ddrescue is a variation of the dd command that allows working with potentially corrupted datasets, partitions, or hard drives.

FSArchiver (Filesystem Archiver)

FSArchiver is a utility to backup the filesystem by files (instead of by partition blocks). A filesystem backed up in this way can be moved to a different sized partition or another disk filesystem altogether (e.g. from ext3 to ext4). Backups can be split and stored on (and restored from) spanned media (e.g. multiple DVDs/CDs). It is included in the System Rescue CD. Install:

sudo apt-get install fsarchiver

System Rescue and Cloning Utilities

System Rescue CD

SystemRescueCD is a LiveCD that includes important utilities such as GParted, Partimage, ddrescue, Rsync, and FSArchiver. Several of these utilities cannot be used from within a running partition, so using them from a LiveCD is often necessary. Download and burn the LiveCD from the website.

Clonezilla

Clonezilla allows the backup or duplication of a partition for a single machine or for multiple machines over a network. (It is similar to Norton Ghost.) It includes Partimage, partclone, and other utilities. It is available as a LiveCD which can then be burned. (A serious limitation of Clonezilla is its inability to backup/restore split image files to/from multiple media (e.g. spanned DVDs/CDs), limiting its usefulness as an inexpensive cloning and distribution solution. Partition image backup/restoration must be to/from a single hard drive, large capacity USB stick, or networked storage space.)

Ubuntu Customization Kit

Remastering software

Debian and (K)Ubuntu Linux operating systems can be "remastered" and customized (using one of a number of utilities) for re-distribution. (See this Wikipedia list.) This enables an organization to pre-load desired applications and customizations for distribution among its members, while preserving the intrinsic architecture and function of (K)Ubuntu. The customized (K)Ubuntu OS can then be distributed on a CD or on a USB flashdrive. Users are then free to further customize the OS, or even to revert back to the original default (K)Ubuntu settings. Also see the Ubuntu wiki.

Run (K)Ubuntu LiveCD from a USB pendrive

The (K)Ubuntu LiveCD can be installed on and run from a USB pendrive. Settings can be "persistently" saved (but the LiveCD kernel modules can not be upgraded). Programs can be installed and run, however, and files saved to the USB drive. (The installed programs will remain installed). A (K)Ubuntu Live CD is needed to do the installation. For additional info, see the Ubuntu Community documentation or the Pendrivelinux instructions.

The USB "LiveCD" can be used to install (K)Ubuntu on computers (including netbooks) that do not have CD-ROM/DVD drives.

USB pendrives to be used to run Ubuntu should have a minimum of 2 Gb (preferably 4 Gb). If you wish to install a fast, fully functional Linux system on a pendrive that has less memory than that, use PuppyLinux or Lubuntu.

USB Creator

You can make a "LiveCD" on a USB pendrive using USB Creator and either a LiveCD or an .iso version of the LiveCD stored on your hard drive. USB Creator is installed by default in Ubuntu. If not, install:

sudo apt-get install usb-creator-gtk

Run:

Menu -> System -> Startup Disk Creator

Create a boot CD to allow booting from the USB drive

Many computers do not allow booting from a USB drive (but they do allow booting from the CD-ROM). You can create a CD-ROM using these Pendrivelinux instructions and set your BIOS to boot from this CD-ROM. When you boot from this CD-ROM, it will use the bootup files on the Ubuntu USB drive you previously created (in the step above).

User Administration

Users and Groups

Note: The Unity user interface does not currently have a GUI method to modify user and group settings. For an introduction to managing users and groups from the CLI (command-line interface) see the Ubuntu Server Guide and this brief tutorial.

Manage Users and Groups with the Gnome2 GUI

Gnome2 (the user interface for older versions of Ubuntu) included a GUI for managing users and groups. That Users and Group Management Tool from Gnome2 can be installed as part of Gnome System Tools:

sudo apt-get install gnome-system-tools

You can then launch it from Unity Dash, by pressing ALT+F2, or by creating a menu item with the command:

It is quite often necessary to have extra privileges to do certain tasks. These privileges are assigned to your user by belonging to certain groups. The tasks are allowed to be performed by any user belonging to the group associated with that task.

Example: a "sudoer" is a user who can perform certain administrative tasks, such as updating the system. To become a "sudoer" a user must belong to the "sudo" group.

To become an administrator, you must belong to the adm, admin, and sudo groups.
To be a virtualbox user, you must belong to the virtualbox group. To change printer settings you must belong to lpadmin. To use the cdrom, you must belong to cdrom. To use hot-pluggable devices, you must belong to plugdev. To share Samba folders (on a Windows-based network), you must belong to sambashare. To access NTFS files using the virtual filesystem fuse, you must belong to the fuse group. To use many games, you must belong to the games group. The list is long, and not always obvious.

Unfortunately, while this is the feature that gives Linux such a high-level of security, it can also take diligence to remember to add your user to certain groups. It is not uncommon for programs and functions on your system not to work merely because you don't have privileges to do so because you forgot to add your user to the appropriate group(s).

Of most importance, you must already be an administrator in order to change membership in groups. Therefore, if you create a new user and intend to give that user administrative privileges (by assigning the user to the administrative groups), you must do so from your original administrator account (the one you set up at installation) or from another administrative user account.

Timekpr (Parental controls)

Timekpr is a program to track and control the computer usage of user accounts. (This is different from KTimeTracker, which merely records your usage but does not restrict it.) It is available from a Launchpad PPA.

Web content filtering

DansGuardian provides web filtering capability, similar to NetNanny. It is useful for limiting objectionable content in publicly accessible workstations, or for filtering objectionable content for younger users. It integrates with ClamAV, and uses several criteria for filtering websites (which is difficult to modify). It is used with Tinyproxy (best for individual users) or the Squid proxy (best for a network server). Install:

System Administration

Automating Tasks

Cron is a system daemon that runs tasks in the background according to instructions found in a crontab file. To edit the crontab file for the current user:

crontab -e

Tasks that normally require administrative (sudo) privileges should be added to the root user's crontab:

sudo crontab -e

Add commands using the format specified here (or see the Ubuntu Community Help). The crontab command format can also be found using:

man crontab

Scheduled/automated tasks (cron events) can also be edited using the GNOME schedule GUI interface.

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Task Scheduler

If the GNOME Schedule task scheduler is not installed, install it:

sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule

Boot Menu

Login Menu settings

You can change the Login menu settings from the GUI interface:

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Login Manager

You can choose an integrated theme or select individual components of the login screen/process.

Automating bootup options

StartupManager is a GUI to manage settings for Grub (Grub Legacy), Grub 2, Usplash, and Splashy.

GRUB boot manager settings

Grub2

Oneiric comes with Grub2, a difficult boot manager to customize. (Grub2 is also known as grub-pc.) See the evolving instructions at the Ubuntu wiki or Ubuntu forums. In brief, some settings can be edited:

and change your password to something other than insecurecleartextpassword, or use the pbkdf2-encrypted method described here. You can then password-lock menu items as well. For detailed info see this blog.

GRUB Legacy

The older version of GRUB ("Grub Legacy") is available, for use with a boot partition, for example. Install:

sudo apt-get install grub

If you have multiple operating systems (OS) on your computer, you may be using the GRUB Legacy boot manager (in a boot partition, for example). You can edit the options for GRUB Legacy in the menu.lst configuration file. (See this detailed info.)

sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

(gedit can also be used instead of nano as the text editor.)

Chainloading Grub2 from Grub Legacy

Grub2 is erratic. I no longer chainload it. Instead, it is possible to bypass Grub2 entirely and load an OS directly using Grub Legacy (stored in a boot partition, for example) using an entry in menu.lst of the format:

My old method for chainloading Grub2 (installed in this example in the /dev/sda7 partition) from Grub Legacy used an entry in the Grub Legacy configuration file (/boot/grub/menu.lst, stored in the standalone boot partition with the Grub Legacy files) with this format:

Protecting Grub Legacy from cracking

To add password protection, in the /boot/grub/menu.lst configuration file, uncomment (remove the hashmark) from the line:

#password topsecret

and change your password to something other than topsecret, or use the md5-encrypted method described here. You can then password-lock menu items by adding the descriptor lock below the title of any item menu.

Default Applications

In previous version of ubuntu, you could choose which program to use as your default program for a specific task.

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Default Applications

or by right-clicking on any file and choosing the "Open with Other Application..." option.

The Default Applications menu has now been removed from Ubuntu, however. For a GUI that will allow this and multiple similar Ubuntu system tweaks, install Ubuntu Tweak:

In this example, I indicated that the file system was an ntfs-3g filesystem, so did not use the auto option (which detects the filesystem automatically). I used rw to specify read/write privileges for all users, but umask=0 and umask=000 are accepted by some kernels.

Method 2:
Edit fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

When Ubuntu installation finishes, it mounts all ntfs partitions automatically with ntfsprogs, adding a line similar to the following to fstab:

In this example, I have a Chinese-language Windows installation on my first partition, so I set the locale parameter (locale=zh_CN.UTF-8) so that my Chinese documents can display correctly. Setting rw (same as umask=0 or umask=000) lets me read/write the partition without sudo. gid=46 specifies that the drive will belong to the group of hot-pluggable devices (plugdev) and is not necessary unless your ntfs drive is a hot-pluggable one (such as an external USB drive). nls=utf8 is the default and is optional for most ntfs users, but there are other options for Chinese (and other specialized character-set users).

Mounting FAT32 Partitions

Follow the above instructions, but use vfat instead of ntfs-3g.

In other words, if you have made a mount point directory /mnt/WindowsFAT32 and your FAT32 drive is /dev/sda3, then edit the /etc/fstab file to include the line:

/dev/sda3 /mnt/WindowsFAT32 vfat quiet,defaults,rw 0 0

Synchronize clock to network time server

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) allows time synchronization of your computer to time servers on the Internet.To enable it:

Applications menu -> System Settings -> Date & Time

Check the "Set date and time automatically" option

Choose an ntp time server near you.

Hardware

CPU and motherboard

The Linux kernel in versions of (K)Ubuntu starting with Karmic Koala implemented mandatory CPU temperature and fan speed sensor monitoring (which was optional in previous kernels). The output from the sensors is used to effect CPU scaling (throttling) in the event of "out of range" temperature values. However, not all motherboards/CPUs have sensor drivers available, and due to a bug in the feedback routine, missing sensors drivers incorrectly report as an "out of range" error in the kernel. Originally this threw multiple errors which were logged (using rsyslogd) to both the /var/log/kern.log and the /var/log/syslog files, filling them to multiple Gb size within a few hours. This had the effect of slowing, then freezing, the machine. Currently, the machine will simply not boot.

If your machine is affected by this problem, you may be restricted to versions of (K)Ubuntu that are Jaunty or earlier (or you must undertake extensive workarounds).

Disable CPU Frequency scaling

(Note: These instructions may not work with newer Linux kernels.)
My motherboard does not have drivers for my CPU fan sensor. Therefore, the Linux kernel cannot monitor the temperature and fan speeds properly and throttles the CPU (aka frequency scaling) inappropriately. This has the effect of slowing or freezing my computer. To turn off this behavior, I used the Debian RCConf utility:

sudo apt-get install rcconf
sudo rcconf

and unchecked the ONDEMAND item. (I also unchecked the fan control item). I then rebooted. For more info, see this.

libsensors

libsensors (libsensors3 and/or libsensors4) is a module that allows an interface (such as lm-sensors) to monitor your motherboard/CPU temp and fan speeds. You can adjust settings:

sudo kate /etc/sensors.conf
sensors -s

libsensors and lm-sensors are not used by the Linux kernel (which uses other routines).

Some hardware CPU sensors are not recognized by the Linux kernel, causing system slowdown or freezing. Here is some info about hardware/sensors problems.

Sensors-applet (Motherboard monitoring)

Sensors-applet (or xsensors) is the Gnome (Ubuntu) frontend for lm-sensors. These sensors monitor the temperature and fan-speed sensors of your motherboard.

Frequency Out of Range / Choose New Resolution

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

by removing the comment hashmark and choosing an appropriate resolution so that the lines resemble:

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768

Re-build the grub configuration file:

sudo update-grub

Install Latest Nvidia/ATI drivers

Ubuntu uses a GUI frontend to Jockey for the installation of the proprietary nVidia drivers (and other proprietary drivers).

Menu -> System -> Hardware Drivers

Sometimes after a kernel upgrade a proprietary driver may stop working. In such a case, try installing the new linux-headers that match the newly upgraded kernel:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

If dkms and build-essential have never been installed on your system, these can also be worthwhile:

sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential

Intel integrated graphics cards

With the default installation of Oneiric, my computer with integrated Intel graphics blanked the screen at bootup and then froze, or flashed a "Frequency Out of Range" error several times. These steps work around this problem.

When booting up, choose recovery mode as root (or "root with networking"). This will give the command line (as root user).

Edit the Grub2 configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Change the line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet i915.modeset=0"

Then regenerate the Grub2 configuration file:

sudo update-grub

or

sudo grub-mkconfig --output=/boot/grub/grub.cfg

When I then rebooted, my graphics worked.

Intel graphics resolution problems

On a fresh installation of Karmic Koala I had no problems with my onboard Intel graphics card. However, on an update from Jaunty to Karmic, I could not get higher screen resolutions -- the same problem I had in Jaunty. A solution to achieve higher resolutions is to revert to the old Intel drivers (used in Intrepid), as detailed here.

Screen Keeps Flickering

If you have an Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML card, your screen may flicker every 5-10 seconds. To prevent this:

and choose yes to any verbose response. After you install the driver, reboot your computer.

ATI Driver

If you have problems with ATI drivers after upgrading, check this link for solutions to common problems with ATI.

Monitors / Displays

Turn off power saving

Even when on AC power, the power saver feature of Ubuntu sometimes changes the screen brightness to the battery setting on laptops. This was a problem with the ACPI power management module in the past, but should now be fixed. If not, change the settings:

To access the Guidance Power Manager module, click on the power icon on the desktop taskbar.

Change the brightness setting for "Battery powered" to maximum.

You can also turn off power management settings (invoked when the computer is idle):

Add a Printer

Most of the time, your printer (if connected and turned on) will be detected automatically.

My network printer with its own IP address at 192.168.0.124 was correctly installed at

socket://192.168.0.124:9100.

You can also choose printers on a Windows system via Samba and other types of networked printers, in addition to directly connected printers.

An alternative method to access the CUPS interface is through a web browser. Go to the URL:

http://localhost:631

Change default CUPS printer margins

CUPS uses the maximum printable area of the chosen printer by default; there are no margins. The default settings for any printer can be changed in the PPD file for the specific printer found in the /etc/cups/ppd folder. Dimensions used in the PPD file are generally in points (in Postscript, 1 inch = 72 points). For my printer, Letter size is 612 x 792 points. I changed this to 576 x 756 points to make Letter size print 8 x 10.5 inches on the page.

Another easy method (to adjust margins) is to create a Custom paper size with the desired margins and use this as the default. (This only works for printers whose PPD files allow custom paper sizes). For example, create a Custom paper size that is 8 inches x 10.5 inches (which would leave a 0.5 inch margin on all sides) and set it as the default. This is easiest to accomplish through the browser-based configuration utility. Start the CUPS interface through the web browser URL:

Now the "Custom.8x10.5" Media Size should appear in the Printer Options section for your printer. (You can then choose between this media size and the essentially marginless "Letter" media size at any time.)

Brother printers

Most Brother printers are auto-detected or can be installed directly from the CUPS interface. For additional drivers and instructions see the Brother help site. For information on a specific model, see the Linux OpenPrinting site.

Sound

If you get no sound with a fresh install, check that the sound levels are not set to zero. Click on the sound (speaker) icon on the panel, and then mixer. You may need to expand the dialog window to show labels. Ensure levels aren't set to zero, especially PCM.

PulseAudio

Sound in (K)Ubuntu is routed by Phonon either directly to your sound card or through the PulseAudio sound system. To use PulseAudio, you must install it. This can be done by installing the PulseAudio control modules (which will install pulseaudio as a dependency):

Install PulseAudio with the control modules:

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol paprefs

Although I no longer use it, in older versions of (K)Ubuntu I also (optionally) installed a system tray widget:

sudo apt-get install padevchooser
padevchooser

Some experimentation with the settings in

Menu -> System -> System Settings -> Multimedia

may be necessary to make sound on your system work properly.

Try setting PulseAudio as the first sound system if you are having troubles getting sound (even if you are using ALSA). If that doesn't work, try making it the last choice.

Some programs require ALSA sound and try to send sound directly through ALSA drivers. Check your program's preferences section to see if ALSA is selected. You may have to switch to PulseAudio (or even OSSound) if you can't get sound.

HDMI with PulseAudio

I could only get my HDMI audio on my computer to work this way, and I can't quite figure out why it works.

I checked to make sure my Mobile Intel 4 Series HDMI audio driver was installed (it is part of the most recent kernels):

aplay -l
aplay -L

This told me the HDMI card was recognized and configured properly. The problem was that no matter what I did, I couldn't get the sound piped through the HDMI card using ALSA, Kmix or any other settings (I tried every permutation).

Then everything played through the HDMI audio card (through the cable to my HDTV).

This worked whether I had PulseAudio selected as the default audio or not (in System settings -> Multimedia). Don't ask me why.

My HDMI port/output is only recognized if the HDMI cable is plugged in at bootup (it does not matter whether the HDTV power is on or not). If I plug in the HDMI cable after bootup, it isn't recognized.

After doing this, every program I use works: VLC, Audacious, or whatever. It does not seem to matter whether the application is using Default, ALSA, or PulseAudio for the audio output plugin. None of this makes sense to me, but it works. I'm happy to be able to play HDMI movies (through VLC) to my HDTV.

To change sound output back to my computer's internal speakers (ALSA), I returned the output setting:

Recording with PulseAudio

To set the PulseAudio inputs that will be recorded by an application (such as Audacity or FFMPEG), the recording must be already started! Only then can the inputs (to be recorded) be selectable in PulseAudio.

For example, to record from a plug in microphone using Audacity, make sure the microphone is plugged in. Make sure in the Sound Mixer (icon) that the microphone is not muted and that the levels are set appropriately.

In PulseAudio Volume Control, select the device that will be the input.

Of course, you should use the device you wish to use here. You can also select the Monitor of Internal Analog Audio Stereo device, which will use as an input to the recording/capture application whatever happens to be playing through the sound card (except for hardware inputs).

Start Audacity (or other recording application). Make sure (in Audacity) that the Devices toolbar is visible:

Assuming you are using ALSA, make sure ALSA is selected, and that pulse is selected for both the output and microphone input on the Device Toolbar. Start recording.

Start PulseAudio Volume Control. Under the Recording tab, you should see Audacity listed as "ALSA plugin: [audacity]: ALSA Capture from: Internal Audio Analog Stereo. If it isn't, then select it. (This is the tricky part that took me a long time to discover.)

Airport Express

Airport Express with Pulse Audio

Audio output can be streamed over your local network to an Airport Express. These capabilities require pulseaudio-module-zeroconf (for the Zeroconf/Bonjour networking protocol) and pulseaudio-module-raop (for Airport Express).

Install PulseAudio:

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio

Reboot to finish the installation.

Select PulseAudio as the output device in

Menu -> System -> System Settings -> Multimedia -> Device Preference

and move "Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server" to the top of every category (or at least the ones for which you wish to use PulseAudio).

Test some audio (e.g. playback through Amarok) to make sure the PulseAudio system is working. Some applications specifically require that the PulseAudio output is specified in their configuration settings, and some applications require a separate PulseAudio plugin to function properly.

Install additional modules in order to use Bonjour/Zeroconf and raop (Airport Express output):

It is not clear to me which ports need to remain unblocked in order for Bonjour/Zeroconf and mDNS to discover the AEx. mDNS and Bonjour/Zeroconf use ports 5353, 5000, and 6000. (The PulseAudio server uses port 4713.) However, even when I unblock these the AEx doesn't seem to be able to be discovered until I turn off the firewall completely. (Once the AEx is discovered I turn the firewall back on and then have no other problems). I usually just add the IP address of the Airport Express on the LAN to the list of firewall-allowed connections. (Doing this still doesn't allow it to be discovered, though, for unclear reasons. Still, as long as a connection to the IP address of the AEx is allowed, I can turn the firewall back immediately after the AEx is located by the Zeroconf discovery and everything continues to stream fine.)

raop-client (Airport Express streaming)

Another method to stream audio to the Airport Express uses raop-client, a tool written in Ruby. See information here.

GSTransmit (Airport Express streaming)

GSTransmit is a tool to allow GStreamer-based utilities to stream output to an Apple AirTunes Device (such as the Airport Express). It is available as a self-installing .deb file from the website.

Airfoil (Airport Express streaming)

You can stream media from a PC running Windows or Mac OS X connected to an Airport Express network to your (K)Ubuntu Linux desktop, using Airfoil. (Unfortunately you cannot send media output from (K)Ubuntu to the Airport Express network with Airfoil, only receive.) This can be useful in a distributed multimedia system, for example, in which your (K)Ubuntu PC is connected to a media center. You must be running Mono. You can download the .deb package at Rogue Amoeba. Installation instructions are at Rogue Amoeba Linux support.

Mice

Activate side-mouse-buttons in FireFox

Adding two lines to xorg.conf will activate side-mouse-buttons in FireFox.

This should work with most brands of the 5-button mouse. Here is a list of mice that worked with this instruction.

Logitech MX310

Logitech MX510

Logitech MX518

Logitech MX700

Logitech MX Revolution

Intellimouse Explorer (first edition)

Razer Copperhead

Backup X.org configuration file

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak

Modify the X.org configuration file

kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the Input Device section for your mouse and add two lines as shown below.

You may also increase the number of buttons if your mouse has more than 7 -- just fix the rest of the section based upon the number of buttons.

Bluetooth

BlueZ is the package that allows Bluetooth connectivity in Ubuntu Linux. This package is included within the current kernel of Ubuntu. To add utilities to check whether your Bluetooth adapter's firmware is current, install:

sudo apt-get install bluez-utils bluez-firmware

then run

sudo dfutool

WiiMote

The Wiimote (Wii Remote Control) uses both Bluetooth and Infra-red technology. It communicates with Ubuntu Linux using the incorporated BlueZ Bluetooth drivers and/or LIRC drivers. (It can function with Bluetooth alone, however.) You will need a Bluetooth receiver on your PC (such as a Bluetooth USB stick or built-in Bluetooth receiver, for example). (Note: not all Bluetooth receivers will work with the Bluez drivers. Check this list or test yours first.)

Note: You can also add uinput to the modules files so it loads automatically at bootup:

sudo echo "uinput" >>/etc/modules

Run (while pressing button 1/2 on the Wiimote):

sudo wminput

For more info, and to learn how to enable the infra-red functions, see this guide.

USB

Wireless Cards

Atheros Cards

Atheros Wireless cards should work automatically with the new kernel by installing the proprietary driver. At installation, after the first reboot, you will be prompted whether to use the proprietary drivers.

It should no longer be necessary to install the following package:

sudo apt-get install madwifi-tools

These instructions for the Atheros 802.11 b/g integrated card are here for reference only (or if you wish to install them manually instead):

Atheros AR242x

Alternate instructions for installing the Atheros AR242x card are here.

3G

3G protocols allow wide area cellular communications that include not only cellphone voice transmission but also integrated broadband internet connections. This can be integrated into a single device, or communications can be received through an EVDO adapter. Examples of 3G radio interfaces include Mobile WiMax, CDMA-2000, TD-CDMA, EDGE, and DECT. For info using 3G with the Ubuntu Network Manager, see this page. For additional info on using 3G with Ubuntu, see this guide.

he220r1

he220r1 is a (K)ubuntu driver package for the Huawei e220 USB modem. It has also been found to work with other 3G devices, such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. See the website for download and installation instructions.

T-Mobile Option 225 (Web'N'Walk) Stick

This website offers a driver optimised for the T-Mobile Web'n'Walk Stick/Option 225.

Verizon

Tethering your PC to your Verizon cell phone

This is a per-minute plan in which you can use Verizon broadband services through your cell phone (such as the Motorola RAZR) connected to your PC via a USB cable.
See this guide.

Digital Cameras

WebCams

See the Ubuntu webcam guide for more info. Many webcams that worked in Hardy Heron may not work in Intrepid Ibex. This may be due to a migration from v4l (video for Linux) to v4l2. See this discussion.

EasyCam

iSight

Linux drivers for the digital iSight camera (connected by FireWire), using ALSA for sound, are here. The video component is already supported by current kernels (see here for more information).

Luvcview (USB webcam viewer)

Luvcview can be used to view your USB webcam to test it. Install:

sudo apt-get install luvcview

View your webcam:

luvcview -f yuv

Netbooks

Ubuntu can be installed on netbooks. (See this this page for laptop and netbook compatibility reviews.) At this time the Ubuntu Netbook Remix (or equivalent) is preferred to the standard Gnome-based desktop, especially for new users. Ubuntu Netbook Remix is provided to several individual netbook manufacturers (such as Asus and Acer) to be optimised for that device. (You can contact your specific netbook manufacturer for specific details on this product.) If you already have Ubuntu Netbook Remix (or eeebuntu Netbook Remix) installed, you can choose to add the full Ubuntu (Gnome) desktop, if you wish:

Palm

Mobile Devices

Ubuntu Linux offers an operating system for Mobile Devices (such as the Samsung Q1 Ultra or Elektrobit MIMD) with a unique and simplified interface. For more information see the Ubuntu MID Edition site.

MP3 / Video Players

Sansa Fuze

The Sansa Fuze is a very high quality MP3 audio as well as video player. It is recognized by default as a USB device in Ubuntu/Kubuntu. To convert videos into a format that can be copied to the player, use Video4Fuze.

Use fuzemux-0,1_i386 instead of fuzemux-0.1_amd64.deb if using a 32-bit OS.

Start video4fuze from the command line:

video4fuze

or create a menu item with the Command: video4fuze.

Convert files (mpg or mp4) using Video4Fuze. Do not use the Sansa Fuze player as the output folder, but use an output folder on your computer. Once the files have been converted, then copy them directly to a Video folder on the Sansa Fuze (using Nautilus in Ubuntu or Dolphin in Kubuntu).

I like k9copy to extract something (that I have saved) on a DVD to an mp4 (.avi) first. The Sansa Fuze likes video at 224 x 176 and DivX 4/5, so I extract to those specifications:

I then use video4fuze to convert the extracted mp4 (.avi) into the format that the Sansa Fuze likes.

Limitations: At this time Flash videos (.flv) cannot be converted directly by Video4Fuze. You must convert flash videos to another format (such as .mpg or mp4/.avi) prior to Video4Fuze conversion, using a converter such as mencoder or ffmpeg (e.g. with WinFF as the GUI).

MachSpeed Trio

The MachSpeed Trio works natively with (K)Ubuntu Linux. Files can be copied directly to the device from a File Manager (Dolphin or Nautilus).

Video formats include .mpg, .flv and .avi. However, the screen is 7.5 cm x 4 cm, which is a 1.875 ratio (widescreen). If your video has a 1.33 ratio (fullscreen), you must add left and right padding to make it look normal. If your video is 320 x 240, for example, you must add left and right padding of 64 each (making it 448 x 240, which is approximately a 1.875 ratio).

In addition, I found I had to convert some videos twice (using ffmpeg) to get it into a format the Trio would accept. For example, I have a 160x120 .avi video I recorded on my camera. (This requires 32 padding on each side instead of 64.) There was a 2 step conversion required to get it into a format the Trio liked:

The first step does whatever it takes to get the video into a NTSC-compatible format. However, it encodes into the ac3 audio codec, which the Trio doesn't like. The second step converts the audio from the ac3 format to the default mp2 audio format (which the Trio likes better) as well as adds the padding (which in reality can be done in either step). I have tried to simplify this into a single command but haven't figured out how to do it yet.

I then copy the converted file directly onto the Trio, where it plays.

Networking

Only one network manager and GUI interface can be enabled. Network-Manager is installed by default, but many users prefer Wicd Network Manager.

Network Manager

Network Manager is the network manager installed by default in (K)Ubuntu. It has a tray applet that allows you to switch between Internet connections (such as wireless APs or wired connection).

Wicd Network Manager

Wicd Network Manager is a GTK-dependent networking manager written in Python that can be used in all variants of (K)Ubuntu. Many users (including me) report it to be faster and more stable than Network Manager. To avoid networking conflicts, Wicd requires the removal of Network Manager prior to installation (replace network-manager-kde with network-manager if using Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu).

Internet connection sharing (DHCP server)

In most LANs, an inexpensive router is used to provide DHCP functions (internet connection sharing).

However, DHCP services can also be provided by a single host computer on your LAN if it is directly connected to the Internet. (This is useful, for instance, if you have a 3G or other wireless EVDO connection to your computer which you want to share with the other computers on your LAN). Other client computers on your LAN would then connect to the Internet through your host computer's Internet connection. The host computer now essentially performs the DHCP functions of a router.

All "client" computers on the LAN ought to be connected to a central LAN switch or router. (If using a router, it should have its own DHCP functions disabled -- you shouldn't have 2 DHCP servers on a LAN unless you know how to nest LANs). They should all be set up to obtain DHCP-assigned dynamic IP addresses and use the same LAN subnet settings (which in the example below is LAN IP range 10.0.0.1 - 10.0.0.250 with netmask 255.255.255.0 and gateway 10.0.0.1). The host computer to be used as the gateway/DHCP server is then connected (through its own ethernet port) either to one to the ports of the switch (if used), or to a LAN port of a router (don't use the WAN port). The host computer then connects directly to the Internet (WAN) through a second port (which in the example below will be a wireless (wifi) port (wlan0)).

(Note: This setup is easiest if you connect all computers on the LAN with Ethernet cables to the central switch or router. But also see using a nested wireless LAN router below.)

Note: Use your own desired LAN settings (internal DHCP-assigned dynamic IP address range), of course. In this example I don't use the full IP range 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.255 for dynamic IP addresses because I want to reserve some LAN addresses (10.0.0.251 - 10.0.0.255) to be used as static IP addresses).

Notes:

If you wish to use this setup all the time, make the "Shared internet connection" profile your default connection profile in Network Manager.

Using a nested wireless LAN router

Many users will already have an established LAN that uses an existing wireless router and has client computers that are setup to connect wirelessly to the router. Here's how to maintain this setup and still use the internet connection sharing method of a single host computer as described above. This method is known as nested LANs. The wireless router will serve as a nested LAN for its wireless clients (only), but in turn will appear as a single device to the main LAN. The two LANs must have different IP ranges. For example, the main LAN may have an IP range 10.0.0.1 - 10.0.0.255 (with netmask 255.255.255.0), as in the above example. The router's nested wireless LAN must then use a different IP range (for example 192.168.0.1 - 192.168.0.255 with netmask 255.255.255.0).

Do not use your wireless router's WAN (Internet) port.

Connect the host computer (to be used as your main LAN gateway/router) to a LAN port (not the WAN/Internet port) of the wireless LAN router.

Configure your wireless router's LAN so that it appears to be a single device to the main LAN:

Setup your wireless router so that the Internet Connection type is "Static IP" (often in the "Internet Setup" section). Configure the settings so that its "Internet IP address" is within the static IP address range of your main LAN (e.g. 10.0.0.254), and make sure the subnet mask matches the one you chose for your main LAN (e.g. 255.255.255.0). The gateway setting should be set to match the IP address of your host computer of the main LAN (e.g. 10.0.0.1 in the example of the preceding section). Now the wireless router will appear to the host computer as just another device on the main LAN.

If your wireless LAN is already functioning, you probably don't have to change any settings, but double-check to make sure the schema are compatible. Configure the wireless router's settings for the nested wireless LAN. This is done by enabling the router's DHCP server functions (in "Network Setup" or some similar configuration section of the router). The router ought to have as its own wireless LAN gateway address a "local IP address" (or "LAN IP address") of 192.168.0.1 (for the IP address range used in this example), and a "starting IP address" (for the DHCP-assigned dynamic IP address range to be used for the wireless clients) to be 192.168.0.2 or greater. (Some routers ask you to specify the entire range (such as 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.255.)

Make sure all your wireless client computers are set to obtain their DHCP-assigned dynamic IP addresses from the wireless router (gateway IP 192.168.0.1) instead of from the main LAN gateway.

Now all communications from the wireless client computers will be routed to the wireless LAN router first, which will then in turn route them to the host computer (which is acting as the main LAN gateway/router), which will then in turn route them to the Internet (WAN).

Note: The host computer for the main LAN must have a static IP address (e.g. 10.0.0.1 as in the example of the preceding section) and it must match the gateway IP address configured in the wireless LAN router settings.

Using Dynamic IP addresses for a webserver

Normally, domain name servers (DNS) that are used publicly on the Internet match a web server's URL name with the IP address of the server's host computer. If your computer has a static IP address, then you can publish your own web server's URL as belonging to the static, unchanging IP address of your computer.

However, if your IP address is dynamic (always changing) because you use an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that constantly changes your IP address (using DHCP), then you will need a Dynamic DNS service to constantly keep track of your dynamically changing IP address and match it to of your web server's URL. Fortunately, there are a few Dynamic DNS services that will do this for you, either for a small fee or even for free. For more info, see this Ubuntu Community help article.

Filesharing

NFS

NFS is the default networking protocol for network file sharing in *nix systems (including (K)Ubuntu Linux). Here are some tips for setting up NFS from the Little Girl's Mostly Linux Blog.

Samba File Sharing

Samba client

Samba is a networking protocol that allows compatibility with Windows-based networks. The Samba client is installed by default in Ubuntu and should work seamlessly (unless you have have a firewall blocking the ports).

Samba server

Samba provides file/print services for the SMB/CIFS protocol used in Windows-based networks. See the official Ubuntu documentation for more information about providing services in a Windows network. A Samba server can be installed using the tasksel option during installation of the Ubuntu server from the LiveCD, or at any time using:

sudo tasksel install samba-server

An alternative method of installation is:

sudo apt-get install samba samba-tools system-config-samba smbfs

Note: samba-tools, system-config-samba, and smbfs are optional.

Modify Samba settings.

Method 1:

Menu -> System -> Administration -> Samba

(Note: this is available only if you installed system-config-samba.)

It is recommended that your user be a member of the sambashare group, as well.

Method 2:

Enable File Sharing Server With User Login (Very Reliable Method)

Do the following on the machine that has the files to be shared:

Add current user to Samba:

sudo smbpasswd -a username

(replacing username with your login username)

Open the samba config file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add the directories to be added (right at the end) in the following format:

[Pictures]
path = /home/username/<folder_to_be_shared>

(Replace username with your username and <folder_to_be_shared> with the folder you want to share)

Press CTRL+X and then Y to save.

Restart Samba:

sudo service smbd restart
sudo service nmbd restart

Note: Prior versions used:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

On Windows access the folder in the following format in Windows Explorer:

\\192.168.x.x

(replace 192.168.x.x with the actual IP address of your server which is serving the folder)

On Linux type the following in Konqueror or Nautilus:

smb://192.168.x.x

(replace 192.168.x.x with the actual IP address of your server serving the folder)

Note: If you use Sharing in KDE's System Settings panel, be aware that there is a small bug, reported here. In brief, you need to comment out/delete any instances of these two lines in /etc/smb.conf :

Local Area Network

Modems / Dial-up

Network Manager does not accept modem connections. See Ubuntu help for information on identifying and connecting with a modem. These instructions require gnome-network-admin (install while connected to a wired ethernet connection):

sudo apt-get install gnome-network-admin

Gnome PPP and wvdial

Gnome PPP is a discontinued GUI frontend for the wvdial PPP modem dialer. It is still available as a package. Install:

sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp wvdial

See this forum thread for tweaks required to make Gnome PPP and wvdial operational in Lucid.

GPPP

GPPP was the default modem dialing application in previous versions of Ubuntu.

Menu -> Applications -> Internet -> GPPP Internet Dial-up

Remote Access

There are several methods of remote access. VNC sharing allows you to view and control a remote computer's desktop. (Windows users use a similar proprietary protocol called remote desktop protocol (RDP)). XDMCP allows a complete remote X-windows based login. Remote connections are hazardous unless proper security precautions are taken to prevent unauthorized logins and to ensure encryption of transmitted data.

SSH

Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged over a secure channel (or "tunnel") between two computers. Encryption provides confidentiality and integrity of data. The OpenSSH client is installed by default in Ubuntu so you can connect to another computer that is running an SSH server.

From the command-line terminal

Note: The -C option indicates compression, which speeds up transmission through the tunnel.

For example:

ssh -C joe@remote.computer.xyz

or:

ssh -C mike@192.168.1.1

or

ssh -C 192.168.1.1 -l mike

Note: -l specifies the login id.

If the SSH server is listening on a port other than port 22 (the default), you can specify that in your connection (with the -p option). For example, if the SSH server is listening on port 11022, connect:

ssh -C joe.friday@remote.computer.xyz:11022

or

ssh -C remote.computer.xyz -p 11022 -l joe.friday

If you have made a public/private key using ssh-keygen, the private key must be stored in /home/user/.ssh. The key should be accessible only to user

sudo chmod 600 /home/user/.ssh/identity

or

sudo chmod 600 /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa

To login with the key:

ssh -C remote.computer.xyz -p 11022 -l joe.friday

Note: You can run the command as a menu item, but the command must be "run in terminal."

Port forwarding through SSH

This specifies that any communications from your computer (localhost) going out through <local port> will be transmitted securely through the the SSH tunnel port.
To use VNC through the tunnel, you would use an application like Krdc or Vinagre:

krdc vnc://localhost:<local port>

Note: localhost is equivalent to (and interchangeable with) 127.0.0.1. Either can be used.

Note that for VNC, the default <local port> is 5900. In general, a remote VNC server (such as X11VNC) is also listening on the default <remote port> 5900 as well. The default <SSH tunnel port> is 22, as discussed above. All these can be changed, however, if you desire greater security.

For me, I noticed that I had to set <remote computer> to be the internal LAN IP address of the remote computer (such as 192.168.1.155) instead of the remote router's IP address, which is specified in <remote IP>. (If the remote computer has a static IP address (i.e. is directly connected to the Internet without an intervening router), then <remote computer> and <remote ip> would be the same.)

Example:
For extra security, my SSH Server uses <SSH tunnel port>=11022. I want to VNC to a remote computer on a remote LAN with a router whose IP address is <remote ip> = 244.205.123.123. The remote computer to which I want to connect has a static IP address within the remote LAN of <remote computer> = 192.168.1.155. I have set up an X11VNC server on this computer that is listening on <remote port> = 6912 (instead of the default 5900). I setup port forwarding on the router of this remote LAN to forward port 6912 to this server computer. I want to VNC to this remote computer from my laptop, through the Internet. My laptop VNC client (Krdc) will use the default <local port> = 5900. My name is <user> = joe.friday. This is my story.

If you have set up a private/ public key pair with a passphrase, or if your SSH server requires a passphrase, of course, you will be prompted for the passphrase after issuing the SSH command.

Note: Port forwarding assumes that the ports are also forwarded through the router(s) and through any firewalls. See the documentation for your router(s) and firewall to learn how to do this. The advantage of SSH tunneling is that only the <SSH tunnel port> needs to be open and forwarded by a router. All encrypted communications will go through your router using this single port. This is what makes the communications secure.

PuTTY

PuTTY is a GTK-based GUI client-interface for SSH connections and eases the setup for port forwarding, SSH public key authentication, and automated login. A user would run Putty to create the SSH tunnel (instead of the ssh command) and then run a program such as Krdc or Vinagre. PuTTY is available for both Linux and Windows (but for routine Linux usage OpenSSH is generally recommended instead).

sudo apt-get install putty putty-tools

To create a 2048-bit RSA key pair compatible with OpenSSH, it is possible to use Puttygen (part of Putty-tools). (For me the Linux version of Puttygen is occasionally buggy, however, so I recommend OpenSSH keygen for routine usage instead):

Move the OpenSSH-compatible keys to the ~/.ssh (i.e. the /home/user/.ssh) folder

mv id_rsa* ~/.ssh

Copy the public key ( /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ) to the server that is hosting the OpenSSH server, into the /home/serveruser/.ssh (for whichever user is the administrative user for the server -- generally the user that installed the server initially). If the SSH tunnel is (still) set at default port 22, you can copy the key using the utility:

ssh-copy-id serveruser@remoteserver.computer.xyz

Connect a VNC client (such as Krdc) through SSH using the command-line:

Using keys created by Puttygen in OpenSSH

The public security key generated by Puttygen in Windows is generally not compatible with OpenSSH security keys unless it is edited. For example, the default OpenSSH key is 2048-bit RSA (SSH-2). When a 2048-bit RSA (SSH-2) PuTTY public/private key pair is generated (by Puttygen) in Windows (see this tutorial), the public key looks like:

Once the PuTTY public key is in this format, it can be appended to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the OpenSSH server. (The private key stays on the client computer, of course). PuTTY can then connect (from Windows or Linux) to an OpenSSH server using the public/private key method.

Connect using SSH Agent

With SSH Agent you can automate the use of public key authentication and open an XDM or VNC session using a script. See this tutorial.

Setup an SSH server

Note: The OpenSSH server can also be installed when doing a server installation as an option from the LiveCD.

Note: An OpenSSH server can also be set up on a Windows server using Cygwin. See these instructions.

Don't forget to forward the port on which your OpenSSH server is listening. The default SSH port is 22; if the default is used, the router should therefore forward port 22 to the computer on the LAN that is hosting the OpenSSH server. The OpenSSH listening port can be changed; in fact, each computer on the LAN can listen on its own unique SSH port, if desired. The router must forward each specified listening port to the correct computer. Therefore, if computer 1 has its OpenSSH server set to listen on port 22221, then the router should forward port 22221 to computer 1's LAN IP address. If computer 2 has its OpenSSH listening port set to 22222, then obviously the router must forward port 22222 to computer 2's LAN IP address. To change the listening port of the OpenSSH server, edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file (use the gedit text editor instead of kate if using Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu):

Limit authorized SSH users

OpenSSH Public Key Authentication

In brief, it is necessary to generate a public / private key pair. On your client machine, generate the pair:

ssh-keygen

A prompt asks for a passphrase. If you wish to use OpenSSH without a password from a secure client (to which no one but you has access), leave the passphrase blank. If you enter a passphrase, you will be asked for this passphrase each time you use the SSH client. By default, a 2048-bit RSA SSH-2 key pair is generated and stored in the /home/user/.ssh folder. The private key is named id_rsa and is meant to stay in that folder. (The public key is id_rsa.pub and is meant to be copied to the OpenSSH server.)

The private key must only be accessible (and should be read-only) to user, the owner of the file:

chmod 600 /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa

You could also make the entire .ssh folder accessible only to user:

chmod 700 /home/user/.ssh

Copy the public key ( /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ) to the server that is hosting the OpenSSH server, into the /home/serveruser/.ssh (for whichever user is the administrative user for the server -- generally the user that installed the server initially). If the SSH tunnel is (still) set at default port 22, you can copy the key using the utility:

ssh-copy-id serveruser@remoteserver.computer.xyz

The ssh-copy-id utility only works over port 22. An alternative if you have changed your SSH port is to copy the /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub key to the server manually. On the server make sure the directory /home/serveruser/.ssh exists and that there is a file authorized_keys (with write privileges) in that folder. If not, create such a file while logged into the server as serveruser (the touch command creates an empty file):

mkdir ~/.ssh
cd ~/.ssh
touch authorized_keys

Then concatenate the id_rsa.pub key you have copied to the ~/.ssh folder. (Make sure the owner of id_rsa.pub, after copying, is serveruser.):

Alternatively (and probably preferably) you can create a Menu Item / Shortcut with the above command.

Note: This command is a command-line mini-script. The SSH option -f option tells the SSH client to fork into the background after starting. (This option is not available in the PuTTY client.) This allows the command line to continue to proceed to the next command(s) listed on the command line mini-script. The 5 second wait ("sleep") timeout allows time for the SSH tunnel to be created before proceeding to the next command. (This can be lengthened if necessary.) After the wait period, the program (Krdc VNC in this example) is started.

Of course, any program could be started (to be run through the SSH tunnel) in this fashion, not just a VNC program.

Automate SSH connections that require a password

This method is strongly advised against. Transmitting an unencrypted password through the Internet (in order to establish an SSH connection) invites password sniffing. Use the OpenSSH key pair methods described above, instead. This method is listed here for reference.

Terminal interactions (such as the SSH password challenge) can be automated using the expect utility. Install:

sudo apt-get install expect

If, for example, your SSH client ID is clientuserID, yourpassword is not#1sostrong, and the remote SSH server is remoteserver.computer.xyz (using the default SSH port of 22), then use this command to start the SSH tunnel:

There are other parameters in this example. 5900 and 5901 are the ports to be used on either side of the tunnel (port 5900 is used for VNC, for example). See Port forwarding through SSH for more details.

You can use the entire command as a menu item (must be "Run in terminal" in the Advanced menu options).

VNC

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) mirrors the desktop of a remote ("server") computer on your local ("client") computer (it is not a separate remote login, as is XDMCP). A user on the remote desktop must be logged in and running a VNC server (such as X11VNC, Vino, or Krfb). Keyboard and mouse events are transmitted between the two computers. VNC is platform-independent —- a VNC viewer on one operating system can usually connect to a VNC server on any other operating system. (Windows users can use one of several clients such as UltraVNC Viewer.)

Vino Remote Desktop VNC server

Vino-server (the Gnome VNC server) is included by default in Ubuntu. Start:

Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop

You can accept uninvited connections in the Security section. You can require a password for these connections.

This implementation of Vino does not allow changing the default listening ports (which start at 5900). If you wish to customize your VNC connection, use X11VNC instead.

How to securely use VNC with SSH tunneling

It is less secure to leave the VNC listening port open to the Internet, even with a password. (This can expose you to password cracking attempts.)

It is more secure to use SSH to tunnel your VNC connection. Under SSH port forwarding, the VNC listening port is the <remote port>. To increase security, this listening port can be changed from the default 5900. Only the VNC server and the SSH client need to specify the <remote port> in a secure connection.

X11VNC Server

While Vino is easy to use, X11VNC allows far more customization and therefore can be used more in situations where greater security is needed.

Install an X11VNC server to share your desktop with other computer:

sudo apt-get install x11vnc

Run X11VNC without a password:

x11vnc -forever -rfbport 5900

Note: -rfbport 5900 specifies the port to listen on. The port number can be changed. This option is not required if the default port 5900 will be used. Don't forget to open/forward this port in your firewall/router. By default X11VNC server exits after the first client disconnects. To keep it running (and allow future connections), use the -forever option. See here for more command line options.

Using VNC with SSH

Vinagre VNC client

Terminal Server Client

The Terminal Server Client is an Ubuntu/Gnome frontend for rdesktop (for RDP connections to Windows computers) and one of several vncviewer clients (for VNC connections). In can be used instead of Vinagre.

Menu -> Applications -> Internet -> Terminal Server Client

To use it with VNC, one of the VNC clients must be installed first. For example, install the TightVNC client:

sudo apt-get install xtightvncviewer

Note that the TightVNC client can be used from the command line (or as a menu item) directly:

vncviewer 192.168.0.12::5900

where 192.168.0.12 is an example host location that is running a VNC server on port 5900. For more command-line options, use

man vncviewer

Krdc VNC client

Krdc is the default VNC client in Kubuntu/KDE but can be used in GNOME. It can be used for both VNC and RDP connections. Installing it will also install the Qt platform and many KDE utilities (a large download).

sudo apt-get install krdc

Run:

Menu -> Applications -> Internet -> Krdc

The command-line connection (for use as a menu-item, for example) is:

krdc vnc://<remote IP>

If the remote (Krfp) VNC server is using a <remote port> other than the default 5900 port, use

krdc vnc://<remote IP>:<remote port>

Krdc can also connect to a Windows server using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).

krdc rdp://<remote IP>:<remote port>

Using a VNC client with SSH

See this howto for an automated setup using a script (it did not work for me, but it might for you).

<local port> will usually be the default 5900, in which case you could simply use

krdc vnc://localhost

XVNC4Viewer VNC Client

XVNC4Viewer is an alternative to Vinagre or the Terminal Server Client (vncviewer). Install:

sudo apt-get install xvnc4viewer

Automatic user login (for use with VNC)

VNC only works if a user is logged in. When a computer (hosting one or more servers) is intended to start up unattended and VNC (with or without SSH tunneling) is to be used, the computer ought to start with the primary user logged in. To accomplish this:

Poptop (PPTP Server)

OpenSwan

OpenSwan is the open source implementation of IPSec-based VPN connections for Linux (and is a successor to FreeSwan). Install:

sudo apt-get install openswan linux-patch-openswan

Security

Ubuntu by default is a fairly safe system. However, if you intend to use Ubuntu as a server, or for critical applications in which loss of data (by accident or by malicious intrusion) would be disastrous, you should learn how to make Ubuntu more secure. A good introduction to Ubuntu Security Best Practices is available. Recommended reading includes the book Cyber War by Richard Clark and this interview with Joe Weiss (IT advisor for the energy-sector smart grid).

Firewall

Network communications go through "channels" called ports. You can restrict which ports are available ("open") for network communications, creating a barricade to unwanted network intrusion. Firewalls do this job for you. But I guarantee that if you install one before you know how to use it that one or more networking programs on your system will stop working. Read every bit of documentation about a firewall before installing it -- you won't regret the time invested. All of these packages modify iptables, which is the set of rules that controls network access in and out of your computer. (You can modify iptables manually from the command line, as well, but if you are that much of an expert, you probably don't need this guide.) Also see the official Ubuntu documentation.

Firestarter

Firestarter is an intuitive firewall manager used to set the iptables values which provide firewall capabilities in Linux (including Ubuntu). It has a very easy-to-use GUI.

Gufw

Gufw is a graphical user interface for Uncomplicated Firewall. Install:

sudo apt-get install gufw

Anti-virus

If you are running a file server, interface frequently with Windows drives or share files with Windows users, or use virtualization, you will want a virus checker for your Windows files.

Despite extensive minsinformation, Linux is not immune from malware (witness the explosion of malware being created for the Linux-based Google Android systems). The malware is not usually spread within the OS itself (as long as the OS is a well-respected distribution obtained through official channels), but in trojan programs downloaded and installed by users outside of the normal software distribution channels (i.e. repositories) of the OS. There is always a danger to using programs downloaded from the Internet from sources other than respected repositories -- it is the primary reason that Debian and (K)Ubuntu retain tight control over their software repositories.

Any file can have malware embedded in it (which is trivial to achieve by concatenation, for example: cat originalfile.avi malware.exe > originalfileplusmalware.avi). The question is whether a user will try to open a file with a program (such as a media player) that has been compromised in a way that allows it to execute the code found in the infected media (e.g. .avi) file. This can occur not only for Windows users but for any OS (including Mac OS X and Linux) with a compromised program (e.g. media player).

Routine scanning of any file downloaded from the Internet, any file imported from another user's computer (even a trusted source, since their attention to virus prevention may not be as compulsive as yours), or any attachment received in an email (even from a trusted sender) should be done with an anti-virus program.

ClamAV

If an error is returned: "The database directory must be writable for UID 1000 or GID 1000" in order for the virus database to be updated, then change the ownership of the installation directory (/var/lib/clamav):

ClamTk (ClamAV GUI)

AVG

AVG offers a free virus scanner for Linux in a .deb package. Download and install from the website.

Avast

Avast offers a Linux edition (for home users only) in a .deb package. Download and install from the website.

Anti-spam

Spam Assasin

SpamAssasin is written in perl, and is mostly for use with a server (such as a groupware server or Apache). Install:

sudo apt-get spamassassin

Rootkit checkers

Rootkits are malicious trojan-like programs to allow an intruder to become a root user and therefore have complete administrative control over the system. There aren't many rootkits in the wild for Linux. Still, this is a growing security problem (especially in other operating systems) and it is a matter of time before more rootkits appear in Linux. Checking for rootkits isn't always successful from a system that is already infected. Your rootkit checker should therefore be run from another system, or a USB pendrive with an Ubuntu LiveCD installation. See the rootkit checker manuals for instructions how to do this. If you are infected with a rootkit, you must backup all your files and re-install your system. (Thank goodness this is easy with Ubuntu, unlike with other operating systems).

Rootkit Hunter

Malicious commands to avoid

There are many malicious commands to be avoided in Linux (as in all operating systems). It is worthwhile to be aware of these dangerous commands so that they are not executed by accident or by malicious advice.

USB drives

USB drives are a major source of security risk and means of data theft.

An administrator password should be set for the computer BIOS and booting from a USB drive or CD/DVD should be disabled. (Otherwise, any passerby can boot their own OS and then use it to steal data from the hard drive.)

See this article for methods of restricting USB usage to authorized users.

Prevent unauthorized boots and system access

Many computers are kept in places where casual passersby may have an opportunity to access the computer, unobserved for short periods. In addition to physical precautions to prevent or slow computer theft (such as locked cases, alarms, and security cables similar to those used to slow bicycle theft), precautions should be taken to prevent an unauthorized operating system from being booted using an external device (such as USB drive). Once such as external OS is booted, it can be used to access most hard drive(s) on the computer and the contents copied to a second external device (to be examined or unencrypted later). This is a common means of data theft that is fast and easy to accomplish, and means to deter it should be taken on any public or semi-public computer.

Set BIOS to restrict bootup to the hard drive only.

Set a Supervisor/Administrator password for your computer's BIOS. (I recommend writing it down and taping it to the inside cover of the computer case prior to locking the computer case.) Disable booting from all devices except the hard drive. Setting the hard drive as the first priority boot device is not enough, as most current BIOS menus allow manual selection of any enabled boot devices. Only the hard drive should be left enabled.

Enable Hard Drive locking, if your computer's BIOS allows it. Most hard drives allow a password to be set by the BIOS and stored in a chip on the hard drive controller which can only be reset by disassembling the hard drive. (Some manufacturers provide a backdoor security key, however.) BIOS versions found on newer computers/laptops allow this password to be set in the BIOS, so that only a BIOS containing the correct password can unlock the hard drive. (If the hard drive is then removed from the computer, it cannot be accessed by any BIOS that does not have the correct password or backdoor security key.) Note, however, that this precaution does not protect against booting from external devices if the BIOS is still set to allow that.

There is a risk to this security measure. If you forget the password and the BIOS passwords somehow get reset, the hard drive would become inaccessible. The BIOS and Hard Drive password(s) should always be stored in a safe location.

Password protect the Grub bootloader. Without password protection, Grub can be used to circumvent BIOS restrictions. See this section for Grub Legacy and this section for Grub2.

Make sure all user accounts are protected by a password, and always require passwords for login. Never create an "administrator" user account (hidden or not) and leave it unprotected by a password. Never enable automatic login without a password to any user account.

It is possible to enable automatic login to a preferred password-protected user account while simultaneously enabling a password-protected screensaver (the password for which must still be entered even before initial user access). This is a reasonable solution that offers protection while still allowing automatic login.

Make sure a password-protected screensaver is always enabled (that will engage after a reasonably short period of inactivity).

Network Monitors

There are two types of network monitors: those that monitor your own system's network settings and those that monitor network traffic. The latter includes security tools (that can also be used as hackers tools) for exposing security weaknesses in a network. Be aware and be safe! A list of available tools is at Top Ubuntu Security Tools.

Netstat

Netstat is the Linux command-line tool to monitor network status and functions. There are many usage parameters. See the manual for help.

netstat

Etherape (Network monitoring)

EtherApe is a graphical utility that allows you to see (in real-time) where connections are being made on your network, or between your network (or computer) and the Internet. If you are experiencing unexpected network activity on your computer or LAN and wish to see where the activity is occurring, this is an easy tool to use. Both "local" user and "root user" installations are created; in general you must use the root user installation to see all your network traffic.

sudo apt-get install etherape

List open files

Sometimes you will see your network slowing and want to know which files are sending data over ports. Use this command:

lsof -i -n -P

Nmap

Nmap is a free open source utility for network exploration (including showing open ports and running services) and security auditing. Install:

sudo apt-get install nmap

Scan your own PC:

nmap localhost

(Once you have found out which ports are open, use a firewall to close the ones you don't want open.)

Nmap GUI

Install:

sudo apt-get install nmapfe

or you can try Zenmap:

sudo apt-get install zenmap

Nessus

Nessus is a proprietary comprehensive vulnerability scanning suite that is free for personal, non-enterprise usage. See the website for details.

Snort

Snort is the de facto open source standard for intrusion detection. Install:

sudo apt-get install snort

It can be used with an MySQL database (sudo apt-get install snort-mysql) or with a PostgreSQL database (sudo apt-get install snort-pgsql).

SELinux

SE Linux (Security Enhanced Linux) is an NSA (US National Security Administration) recommended set of tools for enhanced security in Linux systems. It enforces strict access controls (privileges) and is meant for mission-critical installations. It is not suitable for the casual desktop user. It was first available in Hardy Heron and is being updated for Intrepid Ibex. It is not compatible with AppArmor (which must first be removed).

sudo apt-get install selinux

Knockd (Port security)

Knockd is a small server that listens for a pre-defined sequence of port opening attempts (a "knock") before opening an otherwise closed firewall port for communications. Install:

sudo apt-get install knockd

Network Management

Monitor your network or datacenter with a framework of utilities. Comparable to IBM Tivoli (which can cost thousands of dollars), these solutions are generally available as either community or enterprise editions.

Hyperic is an open-source network monitoring framework that can be used in either a datacenter or a cloud environment (it is used for Amazon Cloud). Both a free community version and a subscription enterprise version are available.

Groundwork OpenSource offers a community edition that integrates other packages such as Nagios, Nmap, and others. There is a subscription enterprise version as well. It has its roots in a university setting.

OpenQRM is the GPL-licensed, free open-source community successor to the very popular network monitoring solution Qlusters. It is available as a Debian/Ubuntu package. See the website for details.

Canonical offers the Landscape network management service for $150 per node, with a free trial available.

Nagios

Nagios is a free open source network monitoring solution. It is administered from a web interface (http://localhost/nagios) and is expandable using a large number of available plugins. For additional configuration information, see the official Ubuntu documentation. Install:

sudo apt-get install nagios3

Munin

Munin is a free GPL-licensed open source networking monitoring tool based on RRDTool, in which a master network node queries other network resources, cataloging and graphically displaying changes. It has a web interface and multiple plugins. For additional configuration information, see the official Ubuntu documentation. Install:

sudo apt-get install munin

Cacti Monitoring Server

Cacti is a complete, free open source network graphing solution designed to harness the power of RRDTool’s data storage and graphing functionality. Cacti provides a fast poller, advanced graph templating, multiple data acquisition methods, and user management features out of the box. It uses MySQL and PHP (part of the LAMP server stack). All of this is wrapped in an intuitive, easy to use interface that makes sense for LAN-sized installations up to complex networks with hundreds of devices. For more info see Cacti Server Setup. Install:

sudo apt-get install cacti

Cluster SSH

ClusterSSH allows replication of a command on an administration console to be replicated via SSH to multiple computers in a cluster. Install:

sudo apt-get install clusterssh

Enterprise Network Firewall

IPCop

IPCop is a free open source (GPL-licensed) firewall solution for use as an independent appliance (on a dedicated PC) in an enterprise network. It allows remote management and can protect multiple servers, including web and email servers. IPSec-based OpenVPN is supported. The CD image .iso and other files can be downloaded here. Installation instructions are on the website.

SmoothWall

SmoothWall Express is an award-winning, free, open source (with a GPL license) firewall solution for use as an independent appliance (on a dedicated PC) in an enterprise network. Download the installation CD .iso image here (server OS included), burn onto a CD, and install on a new, dedicated PC. Many features, however, such as VPN server, database access authentications, and content filtering are only implemented in a commercial version, however, and are not available in the community version.

Endian

Endian is a very robust, free, open source universal threat management appliance similar to IPCop and Smoothwall. It also incorporates OpenVPN. Like Smoothwall, Dansguardian is used for content filtering (and is included in the community edition). Commercial and hardware versions with some additional features, automatic updates, and professional support are available. See the website for details.

LTSP (Thin client support)

LTSP (the Linux Terminal Server Project) adds thin-client support to Linux servers. The package is free, GPL-licensed, and the client can be used to run programs on either Linux or Windows LTSP servers. There is a module for classroom management (ltsp-controlaula) as well. Installation instructions are here. The alternate LiveCD can also be used to install a terminal server, as indicated in these instructions.

LTSP Server

Install:

sudo apt-get install ltsp-server ltsp-manager

LTSP Client

Install:

sudo apt-get ltsp-client

iTALC (Thin client for Education)

iTALC is a free, open source (GPL-licensed) thin client solution that supports both (K)Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP. It has been used widely in educational settings to monitor, share, and control multiple workstations. See the website for download and installation instructions.

Internet Cafe software

Internet Cafe (or CyberCafe) software is specialized LAN-administration software that includes time usage monitoring, billing, and administration. It can also be used in schools, libraries, and organizations with multiple monitored workstations requiring usage limits.

OutKafe

OutKafe is a free, open-source, GPL-licensed cybercafe solution based on a postgreSQL database server stack. It is run on hundreds of sites. It is GTK-based but can be run with Kubuntu (KDE).

OpenKiosk

OpenKiosk is a free open source multi-platform server/client solution for administering and monitoring groups of workstations, such as in libraries, school labs, and internet cafes. Installation is from source files. See the website for details.

CafePilot

CafePilot is a free multi-platform Java-based server/client solution for real-time monitoring and billing of Cybercafe workstations. A complete custom Ubuntu-based LiveCD server/multiple-client solution (including OS and many applications for unlimited workstations) is available for $100 here.

Miscellaneous solutions

Pessulus (Lockdown Editor)

Pessulus is a GTK (Gnome)-based utility that allows an a computer administrator to restrict acccess to several administrative functions, including the command-line Terminal and many other functions. This is useful on public kiosk PCs, for example. Install:

sudo apt-get install pessulus

Cluster (cloud) computing

Cloud computing is the co-ordination of many servers to maximise computing resources and efficiency. The use of virtual machines, load balancing, and VLAN technology are combined into an integrated system. Distributed computing and parallel processing underlies the networks of computers that are now used in a number of supercomputing applications.

Eucalyptus cloud

Eucalyptus is a project from University of California Santa Barbara to facilitate cluster computing on servers that have the Xen virtual machine implementation enabled. Prior to 11.10 (Oneiric) it was available for the Ubuntu server edition as the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

Beowulf

The Beowulf cluster computing project is one of the earliest cluster computing examples and provides the underpinning for a number of Linux-based supercomputing clusters. A Beowulf cluster is designed to function like a single supercomputer, and can be scaled to any number of nodes. It uses open source components. See this introductory article on creating a Beowulf cluster with Ubuntu.

OSCAR is a software platform that allows the creation of a Beowulf cluster on RedHat or Debian/Ubuntu Linux servers. See here for instructions on installing the .deb packages from repositories.

BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing)

BOINC is middleware software developed at UC Berkeley to allow multiple computers to operate as a grid-based (cloud based) supercomputer. There are over half a million computers participating in BOINC projects. To install BOINC and participate in one or more of these projects:

sudo apt-get install boinc

A warning about distributed computing

Cloud computing is often mistaken for remote hosting. While cloud computing using public hosts may be beneficial in "farming out" a few of your non-sensitive computing needs, the recent ease of cloning filesystems and the promiscuity of datacenters has placed a great deal of sensitive data at risk when databases and critical server functions themselves are remotely hosted at a site not under your complete control. Even "trusted" banks and other large businesses routinely trade and sell our sensitive "private" data to multiple partners (sometimes for profit and sometimes unwittingly). Hosted servers are compromised on a daily basis and it is not very easy for an end customer to know how effective are the security practices of a remote hosting service. Further, any data left on public storage devices (cloud servers) in the US for more than 180 days are subject to search and seizure by government agencies there. Therefore, it is almost always more secure to host your own server(s) in house and to limit the traffic and access to your databases and servers to members of your own organization. Learning how to run your own servers is worth the effort, and powerful hardware on which to run them is inexpensive these days.

The Ubuntu cloud computing environment allows you to recruit the multiple computers within your own organization for distributed ("cloud") computing and thereby keep it all "in house" (behind secure firewalls). You do not need to expose your organization to insecure remote public hosts in order to use cloud computing.

Servers

Many server packages (such as Apache2, MySQL, PHP, etc.) can be installed individually, on either a Desktop edition or a Server edition (using the tasksel command described below). It is not necessary in general, therefore, to install Ubuntu Server if you only wish to use an occasional server package on a Desktop edition. Most of the instructions for individual server packages will work on the Server edition, on the Desktop edition, or on a Server edition that has had an Ubuntu or Kubuntu desktop installed on it.

(If you are attempting to create a dual-boot or multi-boot configuration with multiple operating systems on your computer, then see these tips.)

(Tip: During installation of the server, an initial user / password is created. Many servers are intended to run unattended with little subsequent intervention and it can be easy to forget the original user / password pair that is created at installation. I suggest writing this information down and taping it to the inside of the computer case cover for later reference. (Lock the computer case if you desire extra security.))

There are many server packages that are available to be installed as a one-step process during the Server edition installation process from the LiveCD, or at any time (on most editions) using the tasksel command. For a list of server packages that can be installed using the tasksel command:

sudo apt-get install tasksel
sudo tasksel --list-tasks

or using a GUI list:

sudo tasksel

Ultimate Server Walkthrough

Using instructions from Ubuntuguide, an ultimate server can be created with two wikis (MediaWiki), two Drupal websites, a Moodle online learning website, a BigBlueButton teleconferencing server, an Ubuntu desktop, and dynamic DNS access from the web. All components can be expanded and/or additional servers added.

Add a desktop to an Ubuntu Server

Packages that require server capabilities (such as Drupal with Apache, etc.) are often happier when a Server edition is installed as the base OS. However, adding a desktop can make the administration and maintenance of many packages easier for many users (albeit with a cost of reduced server speed). Add an Ubuntu (Gnome) or Kubuntu (KDE) desktop to a server using:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

or

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

LAMP server installation

During server installation, you will have the option of installing a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server stack. Many (but not all) open source servers use this integrated server stack. Drupal, for example, needs to have a LAMP server installed. If you intend to install a groupware server, however, make sure it is compatible with a LAMP server stack before choosing this option. Many groupware servers will install LAMP (or their own variation) automatically, so you do not need to install the LAMP stack. Others will install and use postgreSQL instead of MySQL, so you would not need to install a LAMP server.

Apache2 + MySQL + PHP

This is the preferred method:

sudo apt-get install tasksel
sudo tasksel install lamp-server

(Tip: During installation of the LAMP server, an initial MySQL "root" user password is created. This information will sometimes be needed when installing other server packages that use MySQL. I suggest writing the MySQL password down and taping it to the inside of the computer case cover for later reference. (Lock the computer case if you desire extra security.))

eBox (server and network manager)

eBox is a web-browser based server management platform that is useful in managing multiple servers and networking functions in a small to medium business. It is modular so that as the network grows and more networking functions or servers (such as the ones listed below) are added, eBox can manage those, as well. Install:

OpenSSH server

Mail Server

The dovecot-postfix package install the components and configuration files to use the Maildir (mail spooling) folder system by default. See Dovecot-Postfix Mail server.

The mail-server task installs the components and configuration files to use the mbox (mail spooling) system by default. This can be installed:

sudo tasksel install mail-server

Bind9 (DNS server)

BIND DNS servers are the most commonly used on the Internet. Bind9 is the current edition. See the usage instruction here. Also see the official Ubuntu documentation for more configuration information. It can be installed using the tasksel option during installation of the Ubuntu server from the LiveCD, or at any time using:

sudo tasksel install dns-server

Apache Tomcat (Java server)

Tomcat is a free open source platform from Apache which provides a "pure Java" HTTP web server environment for Java code to run (see here for more info).

It is not part of the Apache2 web server. See the official Ubuntu documentation for more configuration information. It can be installed using the tasksel option during installation of the Ubuntu server from the LiveCD, or at any time using:

sudo tasksel install tomcat-server

Xen virtual machine host

Xen is a free open source virtualization platform that allows the host to run "guest" operating systems simultaneously (see here for more info). Xen implementation in the (K)ubuntu server is based on integration with KVM, the kernel-based virtualization platform in Linux. KVM integrates with QEMU components, which have been merged with Xen.

Note: KVM requires a 64-bit processor with a virtualization extension, i.e. an Intel VT or AMD-V CPU, therefore this package currently is successful only with the 64-bit Ubuntu server installation and on those CPUs.

It can be installed using the tasksel option during installation of the Ubuntu server from the LiveCD, or at any time using:

sudo tasksel install virt-host

Print server

Ubuntu uses the CUPS print server, which is integrated into the desktop. Installing a print server in Ubuntu Server is necessary only if you do not intend to use a desktop (i.e. you intend a "headless" server). It can be installed using the tasksel option during installation of the Ubuntu server from the LiveCD, or at any time using:

sudo tasksel install print-server

OpenLDAP

OpenLDAP is a community-based LDAP server that allows directory querying over TCP/IP, generally for organizations arranged by domain. Ubuntu uses the slapd daemon for the OpenLDAP server. See the official Ubuntu documentation for more information about installation and setup.

Proxy server

Squid

Squid is a widely-used proxy web server and web cache daemon that is useful for corporate or other large LANs that wish to accelerate and/or control traffic through the LAN. For initial configuration information, see the official Ubuntu documentation. Install:

sudo apt-get install squid

Privoxy

Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk. It is easier to configure and more useful for individual users. Install:

sudo apt-get install privoxy

Reverse proxy Servers and Load Balancers

A reverse proxy server allows incoming web traffic on a LAN to be directed to multiple computers (each running one or more servers) on the LAN. When redundant instances of a server exist on a LAN, a Load Balancer allows traffic to be directed to the most available instance.

Pound (Reverse proxy and load balancer)

Pound is a free, open source (GPL-licensed) lightweight reverse proxy and load balancer. Also see the Ubuntu Community instructions. Install:

sudo apt-get install pound

Apache Reverse proxy

The Apache2 server has a mod_proxy module available that enables reverse proxies. See these instructions for a simple method to implement reverse proxies using this Apache module.

Control panels

There are several free and/or GPL-licensed control panel utilities for managing multiple servers on a single physical server or cluster of servers running Debian/Ubuntu-based servers. Here is a brief overview.

Webmin is the most widely used web browser-based free open source web hosting control panel for Linux.

GNUPanel is a free GPL-licensed web hosting control panel system that is compatible with Debian/Ubuntu OS using PHP.

Web-cp.net is a free GPL-licensed web hosting control panel system that is compatible with Debian/Ubuntu OS using PHP.

Network Attached Servers

Here are some user-contributed suggestions regarding commercially available NAS/RAID devices.

FreeNAS

FreeNAS allows a PC with several hard drives to function as a self-contained network attached storage RAID device. It is a very small, fast system, so that an older PCs could function quite well as an NAS.

Setup RAID in Ubuntu/Kubuntu

See this thread for a discussion how to set up RAID on an Ubuntu/Kubuntu server.

Databases

There are several free enterprise-strength databases that can be used in (K)Ubuntu Linux.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a free standards-compliant enterprise-strength open-source database, initially developed at UC Berkeley. See the PostgreSQL Server documentation for server configuration information. Install using the dummy task:

sudo tasksel postgresql-server

or install directly:

sudo apt-get install postgresql-8.4

or

sudo apt-get install postgresql

MySQL

MySQL is one of the most widely-used relational databases, and has been licensed under the GPLv2. It has now been bought by Oracle as part of the purchase of Sun. It has long been integrated into co-ordinated server platforms using the LAMP stack, but it can also be installed separately.

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

Tips & Tricks

Run Command

You can run any application in your path using the Run Command. Use Alt+F2.

Turn off Hot Keys

This is the most evil option on any operating system, in my opinion. A mis-stroke enables any number of random events. Unfortunately, this problem is pervasive in operating systems and is difficult to turn off.

Autostart a program at bootup

Any program (or script) can be made to Autostart at bootup by creating a symbolic link to that program (or script) in the ~/.config/autostart folder.

For example, to start Firefox at bootup, create a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/firefox ~/.config/autostart

Choose Bootup/Startup services

Preventing unneeded or unwanted services from loading at startup can improve system performance.

Install the GTK-based Bootup-Manager:

sudo apt-get install bum

Run Bootup-Manager:

Menu -> System -> Bootup-Manager

Run a script from a menu item

It is possible to place a short script in a menu item / shortcut to answer an interactive query (such as a password query). Here is an example that is used to enter a password during an SSH negotiation. First, install the utility expect:

In this example the password sshpassword is returned when the ssh program requires a password. Expect waits for some text to be displayed in the command-line terminal then returns text in return. The Menu Item must be "Run in terminal", therefore.

SHC (Encrypt scripts)

SHC is a simple script compiler that will convert a script into a binary, obscuring the code (and passwords, etc.). Usage instructions are here. Install by adding the Debian Etch repository:

sudo add-apt-repository 'http://archive.debian.org/debian etch main'

then install the shc package:

sudo apt-get install shc

Capture a screenshot

Customize desktop to look like KDE

In recent versions of Ubuntu, the Gnome desktop can be made to resemble the cleaner KDE desktop with some customization. (Customizations are highly personal, and this section represents preference only.)

Run a KDE 4 desktop from Ubuntu

It is possible to install the KDE4-based desktop (the default in Kubuntu) in Ubuntu.

apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

There is a risk of software bloat and some incompatibilities between modules when doing this. At login, you can choose (as an option) whether to start the KDE (Kubuntu) desktop or the Gnome (Ubuntu) desktop. Nevertheless, when there are two modules trying to perform the same function (one from each desktop), it is possible to have conflicts.

Run a KDE 3 desktop from Ubuntu

You can also install the older KDE 3 desktop on Lucid, or almost any KDE3 application.

Kill (end) a process

There are many tricks to try to fix a frozen PC. Press Alt+F2, and use killall to end the frozen application. Example:

sudo killall amarok
sudo killall firefox

In order to terminate a stuck graphical application use the xkill utility. Press Alt+F2, type xkill, and press Run. Point the cursor to the application you want to kill and press the left mouse button. This should kill the selected application.

xkill

Another trick to try is pressing AltGr+SysRq+K (RightAlt+PrintScreen+K). This will log you out. But, what happens if this does not work? Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1,login, enter your password and run:

Random password generator

Pwgen is a command line utility to generate a block of random passwords. Run it from Konsole (in Kubuntu) or Terminal (in Ubuntu). Install:

sudo apt-get install pwgen

Run pwgen:

pwgen

UUIDgen is a default utility to generate a random UUID. Run:

uuidgen

The random UUID can also be used as a password, if desired.

Password checker and enforcement

John the Ripper is a free open source password cracker that uses a dictionary of over 4 million commonly used passwords in many languages. Because this tool this widely available, it is useful for scanning and securing your own LAN and computers for password strength. Install:

MD5Sum

Filenames with spaces

Filenames or folder names with spaces in them should be enclosed with parentheses (" "). For example, to change to a directory named "This Dir" or "/home/This Dir", use the command:

cd "This Dir"

or

cd /home/"This Dir"

Alternatively, a space in a filename or folder name can be preceded with a backslash. For example, to change to a directory named "This Dir" or "/home/This Dir":

cd This\ Dir

or

cd /home/This\ Dir

Alien

Alien is a method for converting (Red Hat) .rpm packages into (Debian) .deb packages. It is not reliable and converted packages must be tested extensively for functionality, with line changes often required. It is often more reliable to create (Debian) .deb packages from source, and even the Alien software maintainers do not recommend using Alien for important packages.
To keep alien from changing the version number, use the following command

alien -k rpm_file_name.rpm

Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb

alien -d package-name.rpm

Convert the package.rpm into a package.deb, and install the generated package

alien -i package-name.rpm

To convert .rpm to debian

sudo alien -k *.rpm

Software Troubleshooting

Permissions error on program startup

If you get a permissions error, try the following:

sudo chown -R user /home/user

Note: Replace user with the actual username. This command changes the owner of the folder /home/user to user. -R means "recursively", i.e. including all subfolders.

CD-ROM Troubleshooting

If you receive the "cdrecord has no permission to open the device" error while burning using a CD burner, open a terminal and type:

sudo chmod 777 /dev/scd0

Note: replace "/dev/scd0" with your own device.

Note: chmod 777 is the universal option for granting full permission to a folder. The 777 mask indicates that read, write, and execute permission is given to all users.

Licenses

Linux is largely a community of volunteers and as such represents one of the largest altruistic efforts on earth. This includes companies who decide to contribute their own software into the public domain for free use. The continued success of sharing depends on licenses that keep software free and usable for anyone who wants to use it. However, there must be a method for Linux users and developers to make money, as well. Licensing helps protect each of these efforts. See the Wikipedia Free Software Licensing article and the GNU operating system licensing page for more complete information.

Kubuntu Derivatives do not need a license, according to its developer. See this blog article.

GPL license

The GPLv3 license (and the Affero GPLv3 license for network-based software) intends that the software module or package is free to use in any environment, and furthermore, any software that relies on that GPLv3-licensed module must in turn also be completely free. Commercial and proprietary software packages can't use or incorporate GPLv3-licensed modules.

LGPL license

The Lesser GPL license intends that the software module or package is free to use in any environment, including in commercial and proprietary software packages. This allows companies to develop proprietary packages which includes LGPL-licensed modules, from which they can make a profit. The disadvantage is that their products (which benefit from the LGPL-licensed modules) are not required to be in the public domain in turn. (Many companies often later donate their entire package into the public domain, however, after they no longer make a profit from them.)

ODbL license

The ODbL (Open Database License) is a "share alike" open license intended for databases.

Apache license

The Apache license has been around a long time. It is compatible with the GPLv3 license, but, unlike the GPLv3 license, it does not require modified software to retain the Apache license. In other words, Apache-licensed software can be modified and the modified software then made proprietary (and therefore not returned to the open source community).

BSD license

The BSD license is similar to a public domain license. There are currently many confusing iterations of the BSD license, however, mostly regarding attribution notices and advertising that is required to be provided along with any software derivatives. The BSD license allows the option of propagation of either (otherwise-licensed) free open source restrictions or proprietary restrictions. It therefore allows a mix of (otherwise-licensed) proprietary modules and open sourced-licensed modules to co-exist in the same package. This flexibility has made the BSD license popular with complex distributions (such as the (BSD Unix-based) Mac OS X operating system, for example).

Creative Commons licenses

Espoused by many large public-domain projects, there are a variety of Creative Commons copyright licenses for different scenarios. Many variations impose "non-free" limitations and versions prior to version 3 were denounced by several large open-source projects; particular variations of this license must be examined closely.

Proprietary licenses

There is a vast array of proprietary licenses, all different. You never know what your limitations for software are unless you read every word. Most are attempts by lawyers to have an opportunity to create a lawsuit in the future. Some may be called "free" licenses but have many limitations which you will not be aware of until you are in the middle of a lawsuit. No license outside of the GPLv3 license is recommended. Be careful when committing your organization to a mission-critical software package with a proprietary license. Also see this outstanding article on the Open Source Enterprise Trap.

Requests

eBook version of this guide

See the Books Category for free Ubuntu eBooks based on this help guide.

There is an option in the menu bar at the left entitled "Printable version" which formats pages for easier printing. You can print this (or any other document) to a PDF file easily. By default, Ubuntu includes a "Print to File" option from its Print menu. Use this option to print anything appearing in your browser into a PDF file. From Firefox (or any other browser or program):

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